Today's Victory in Georgia

I am happy to write that today, the Georgia state school board approved 9th grade for Georgia Cyber Academy, the online public school which my children attend.  This comes after GCA's charter application for 9th-12th grades was denied on June 18 and after two other online schools approved to open in Georgia backed out due to the low funding amount provided by the Charter School Commission.  While this is definitely a small victory for online education in Georgia, we need to persist in pursuing fair funding for all virtual schools coming to the state.  Currently, GCA receives around $3200 per pupil in Georgia state funds, when, compared with the average traditional public school funding of $8908 per pupil, is merely a drop in the bucket.  The issue is that local funds do not follow the students to virtual schools as is the case in other states with virtual schools.  I think that the Charter School Commission is supportive of virtual K-12 education and will hopefully work to identify the fair funding number.  I have learned that five virtual schools have applied in the 2010-2011 charter application cycle, so am excited about the prospect of adding more virtual school options in our state.  To read more about virtual education in the state of Georgia, visit http://www.gavirtualed.org/.