Dual Enrollment, Cyber School Legislation Head to Governor - Flaws and All

The Senate this past week concurred with House amended versions of the dual enrollment and cyber school bills, ending months of wrangling over the legislation which passed the Senate last October and has been stuck in the House since.

Now, Governor Snyder and Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan are working to tamp down concerns that the cyber school cap would not actually work. Both put out press releases on the subject with Superintendent Flanagan saying that the figures "being thrown around are hypothetical and imprudent." However, neither said that the concerns raised were inaccurate.

Under the House passed version of SB 619, there is a provision that empowers the State Board of Education to push the pause button on cyber schools after it's reported that they've crossed a student population threshold that's over 2 percent of the state's overall student population.

But if that percentage is over that two percent number, there is no requirement that the cybers dump students. Rather, the bill reads that cybers couldn't add any additional students. Since actual enrollment wouldn’t be clear until the fall count day, cyber enrollment could potentially exceed the two percent limit by thousands of students before the cap was enforced.

Governor Snyder is expected to sign the bills soon. A summary of the legislation is available in last week’s Weblines, which you can access by clicking here.