Keep an Open Mind

The (Eugene) Register-Guard (Editorial)

2/13/10

Oregon is having a hard time deciding how, or even whether, to integrate virtual charter schools into its systems of funding, standards and accountability — systems developed when few imagined schools as anything other than places where students gather each day in a classroom led by a teacher. Oregon's attitude should be one of openness and experimentation, because one of the few certainties about this matter is that virtual learning won't go away.

Part of the state's difficulty stems from a commendable determination to be careful with taxpayer funds and protective of children's educations. Part of is rooted in a less-commendable desire to protect the established model of education.