
Oregon redefines “Abundance of Caution” by shutting down online schools - notlukesky
https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2020/03/29/oregon-redefines-abundance-of-caution-by-shutting-down-online-schools/
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8bitsrule
The linked weblog simply quotes from this more objective news-story in the
Willamette Weekly.

[https://www.wweek.com/news/schools/2020/03/26/oregons-
virtua...](https://www.wweek.com/news/schools/2020/03/26/oregons-virtual-
charter-schools-are-the-definition-of-social-distancing-the-state-shut-them-
down-anyway/)

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iammiles
Relevant quote: "Because online charter schools already have fully developed
curricula that can serve idle students right away, parents of children who
attend brick-and-mortar schools might be inclined to transfer their students
to the virtual schools. That could have budget consequences for traditional
schools because they are funded based on enrollment. If enrollment goes down,
funding goes down as well."

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runawaybottle
I guess their funding doesn’t scale? Someone break this down, how are
education systems funded?

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taurath
Per student in attendance (daily) for state base funds, and the same per
school in locality. Most school funding is from local property taxes.

That’s the super rough answer - and no funding doesn’t scale, they don’t have
the money. Schools will do almost anything to keep kids in attendance because
that’s what their budget is determined on.

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LVB
An important clarification that came out after the linked article:

"Earlier in the week, we had some misinformation come out that made it look
like we had to close, and then we had formal guidance come out yesterday
evening that said, 'no, we can continue to operate," Nicholaus Sutherland,
ORVA's executive director, said. Although normal classes can resume, the
virtual school has been told it won't be able to enroll any new students as of
March 26.

[https://www.kptv.com/news/some-oregon-schools-face-
challenge...](https://www.kptv.com/news/some-oregon-schools-face-challenges-
in-move-to-online-learning/article_ef9078fe-7083-11ea-adfc-934f8eb3e8a6.html)

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valuearb
That's still shitty, isn't it? Telling parents they can't get their kids a
better education because of bureaucratic knee jerk defensive measures against
competition?

~~~
LVB
Oh definitely. It’s just a little less bad then shutting down current
students, which would make no sense at all (they’re already not in the brick-
and-mortal system so there’s no funding moving).

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mikl
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

But it is really hard to imagine that Oregon’s governor is this stupid.

So either there’s some political gains, or she simply just hates charter
schools, their students, or the student’s parents.

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downerending
Don't sell Oregon's stupidity short. It's a hot-bed for anti-vaxxer sentiment.
And Eugene might be the largest city in America that doesn't fluoridate its
water.

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voxadam
Portland doesn't flouridate its water it is far larger than Eugene.

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runawaybottle
Adapt or die just doesn’t apply to really big government funded stuff. I’m a
bleeding heart liberal and understand the undercurrent of current pushes for
Medicare for all, but I also worry about this kind of shit. State schools
don’t have to compete?

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xsmasher
Anyone know how the funding works in Oregon? If the state closes the school,
does that mean they don't need to pay for those days of instruction?

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foxyv
A lot of Online classes require students to come on to campus for proctored
exams and lab time. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case.

