While the empowerment and expansion of the charter school concept in Mississippi seems a foregone political conclusion in the Mississippi Legislature, the central questions that remain are whether the House will try to limit charter schools in school districts rated “successful” and whether the House will seek to include “virtual” charter schools in the bill they send to conference with the Senate version.
The question of “virtual” charter schools – private educational institutions offering classes entirely online – have been a lightning rod during the charter school debate. Leading the charge against virtual charter schools has been state Superintendent Tom Burnham and Parents’ Campaign executive director Nancy Loome – both of whom say virtual charters schools have poor performance records.
Drawing particular fire from Loome and others has been K12 Inc. K12 is a publicly-held Herndon, Va., firm that is the largest U.S. operator of taxpayer-funded online schools and that is part-owned by billionaire Michael Milken. In 1990, Milken – at that time known by the pejorative title “junk bond king” – pleaded guilty to six felony counts of securities fraud and served a one-year-and-10-month federal prison sentence. Milken’s connection to K12 Inc. has been roundly flogged during the ongoing charter school debate in this state.
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