FLVS Frustrations: Massive Investment, Massive Expansion, No Governance

Districts have turned themselves upside down in order to comply with a statewide Emergency Order requiring “all school boards and charter school governing boards must open brick and mortar schools in August at least five days per week for all students.” While the Governor insists that parents should have the choice between face to face and virtual school during a global health crisis, many families choosing Florida’s virtual school have run into snags.

On 9/9/2020, WKMG reported “many families statewide were worried their children might fall behind as Florida Virtual School (FLVS) lags in registering them.” They questioned a FLVS spokeswoman who said:

• The registration office has experienced a higher than usual volume of applications. 
• FLVS is currently hiring 70 new teachers to cover courses.
• FLVS Elementary has closed closed enrollment until the month of October.
• For those who were able to enroll: “We are striving to get both FLVS Full Time and FLVS Flex Elementary students who have already registered to start with classes by the end of September”

In May, C.E.O. Dr Louis Algaze assured the State Board of Education that FLVS had ramped up its capacity and was ready to serve all 2.7 million of Florida’s public school students. Why isn’t Florida Virtual School prepared to handle that increased enrollment now?

The history of Florida Virtual School, the nation’s largest virtual school, has as many ups and downs as a carnival ride. Once heralded by former Governor Jeb Bush as “a transformative tool to disrupt the public education system,” in the Summer of 2018, data breaches and scandals lead to the resignation of its politically connected CEO, the dissolution of its politically appointed Board of Trustees and the temporary transfer of control of the school to the State Board of Education (FLBOE). In language passed through the 2019 Appropriations Act (HB2502), the FLBOE was mandated to appoint a new executive director of the school who was to report directly to the Commissioner of Education. In addition, the Department of Education was required to contract with an independent third-party to conduct an audit of the school. The language (which you can read beginning at Line 623 here) was written to expire July 1, 2020.

In July 2019, the FLBOE appointed Dr. Louis Algaze as the new FLVS Executive Director. At that time, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran called FLVS “a critical component of Florida’s robust menu of educational options” and FLBOE Chair Marva Johnson declared FLVS to be “a Florida treasure.” Under the leadership of both Algaze and Corcoran, FLVS set the goal that “FLVS should be the model for accessible and high-quality virtual education.”

By March 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Corcoran called for the closure of Florida’s public and private K-12 school campuses and a transition to distance learning. FLVS seemed perfectly placed to capitalize on the situation and Florida’s so-called “ed reformers” began excitedly discussing the expansion of FLVS.

By the April 1st, 2020 FLBOE meeting (via conference call), FLVS was ready to expand. Commissioner Corcoran informed the Board that Florida’s success in transitioning to distal learning had been noticed by USDOE Secretary Betsy DeVos and Vice President Pence, who had called Florida “a leader in distance learning education.” He also praised FLVS for “literally” training thousands of teachers to teach virtually, offering free classes to school districts and increasing their capacity, redirecting funds from their own budget, so that, come summer, they would be capable of serving the entire Florida student population (2.72 million) should the Covid-19 shut downs continue. Board member Ben Gibson noted “Florida Virtual School is becoming more and more relevant and essential by the day…” and the Board approved the plan to re-allocate $4.3 million from FLVS reserves to ramp up student capacity, with the goal of being able to serve 2.72 million students by May 4th, 2020.

In his May 18, 2020 C.E.O. report, Dr. Algaze assured the Board that FLVS was “fully ramped up, and secure and operational and able to support up to 2.7 million of Florida students.” Responding to a question from board member Tom Grady, Algaze confirmed “Yep, we’re at the 2.7 million, we’re available for all the students to have access to the content.” Grady congratulated Algaze and his team for “rising to a rather extraordinary challenge by getting 2.7 million kids online.”

The May 18th meeting was the final meeting in which the FLBOE served as the FLVS Board of Trustees. Because of the sunset provision in HB2502, the transfer of control of FLVS to the State Board was only temporary and, after July 1, 2020 would revert back to an appointed Board of Trustees. During that May FLVS Board meeting, the Board authorized Algaze to “continue to spend at current levels based on the approved 2019-2020 budget until such time that the 2020-2021 budget is adopted.” 

To date, there have been no further board meetings and Governor DeSantis has not appointed a new Board of Trustees, leaving FLVS, in what could be considered the most challenging year in public education in Florida’s history, a publicly funded school with a $200 million annual budget and no governance board. As of today, 9/11/2020:

In late May, that the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) formally announced it would use $5 million of its $76.25 million share of federal K-12 CARES funding to reimburse FLVS for the hardware updates necessary for its expansion and to allow further expansion, increasing FLVS capacity to serve 4 million students. Per the FLDOE, such capacity “would more than prepare Florida for future crisis response.”

Less than 6 weeks later, when Florida found itself at the epicenter of the global pandemic, attentions abruptly turned away from online education options and towards the reopening of school campuses. On the same day that President Trump tweeted “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!,” Commissioner Corcoran issued Emergency Order-06 which required “all school boards and charter school governing boards must open brick and mortar schools at least five days per week for all students” in exchange for needed funding flexibilities.

By mid August, at a White House event entitled “Kids First: Getting America’s Children Safely Back to School,” Commissioner Corcoran sang the praises of face-to-face learning, saying “there’s just no substitute for it” and predicting that “when we get to August 31st — all the districts open up — we’re going to have probably 70 to 80 percent of students in face-to-face options.” He went on to call FLVS “a second-tier education,” and the President agreed, saying “People thought for a long time that (virtual schooling) would be the answer but it’s — that’s not the answer.”

Let’s review:

• In the spring, Florida has invested $5 million of federal CARES funding to expand Florida Virtual School’s capacity, so that it can serve all of Florida’s students.
• By mid May, FLVS C.E.O. Dr. Algaze assured the FLBOE that FLVS was “fully ramped up, and secure and operational and able to support up to 2.7 million of Florida students.”
• The Commissioner of Education now calls that “a second-tier education” and predicts 70-80 percent of students will return to face-to-face options by August 31st.
• In the meantime, FLVS, which has been overwhelmed by families choosing it as their virtual option, is closed to new enrollments and is “striving” to ensure that students who have already registered will be able to start with classes “by the end of September.”
• Also, keep in mind that FLVS, embroiled in financial scandals just two summers ago and now undergoing massive expansion in uncertain times, is a $200 million/year publicly funded school, operating on last year’s budget, WITHOUT a governing board.

Massive investment, massive expansion, no governance and overwhelmed by the number of families wanting to enroll in FLVS… Who could have foreseen this might become a problem? Turns out, edu-blogger Peter Greene did when he asked this question:

“what the hell kind of education program only requires a technology upgrade to give itself a 1,300% capacity increase? That’s like suggesting that we can triple the capacity of a school by buying more desks.

HTTPS://CURMUDGUCATION.BLOGSPOT.COM/2020/04/FL-PATH-OPENS-TO-KILLING-PUBLIC-SCHOOLS.HTML?SPREF=FB&FBCLID=IWAR3XAI1L_EHLNDVQOED8ZU6IP-UALWTNABJKVLFFVACTJSORAYV51HVXF-A

Florida’s families, and taxpayers, deserve better.