Last week PSO president Tillie Elvrum spoke in front of the Indiana State Board of Education at a meeting about virtual charter schools. Tillie was joined by other charter school leaders from groups like the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools and National Association of Charter School Authorizers.Tillie presented recommendations for improving virtual schools and ensuring they are accessible to every Indiana student who wants to attend school on-line.Unfortunately, other charter school leaders focused on policy recommendations that would reduce choices for Indiana families and punish virtual schools and their students based on one-size-fits-all standardized test scores.To make matters worse, in published news reports of the meeting, Tillie’s perspective (that of parents & students) was largely ignored.While in Indiana Tillie also met with Governor Holcomb’s staff to discuss the need for access to virtual schools and had a good dialogue with members of the state board of education.Even though the media and bureaucrats continue to ignore parents – an all too familiar pattern – PSO will always stand up for parents and students. Because parents need to be trusted with their children’s education decisions.As the Indiana State Board of Education considers policy recommendations for virtual schools in the coming months, PSO will be there every step of the way to ensure this option is available to every Indiana family. And we will continue holding other charter school leaders accountable for pushing policies that are anti-parent and anti-choice.

READ TILLIE’S PRESENTATION

(since the media won’t tell you what she said)