Ball State University's first attempt to sponsor virtual charter schools in Indiana has failed miserably, and more than 2,000 students must find alternative forms of education as a result.
Ball State agreed to sponsor two virtual schools from Muncie and Indianapolis that were slated to open this fall without finalized plans for how to fund the schools. Students were left in the dark about possible problems until the Indiana General Assembly decided on a moratorium on funding for virtual schools, effectively closing the schools before they opened.
Ball State should have communicated with students and representatives from the charter schools before the issue of funding became a problem. For the future, university officials should properly utilize the two-year moratorium for planning to ensure similar problems don't occur.
Ball State doesn't deserve all the blame for the poor planning that left thousands of students in the dark, however. An amendment to the charter school law was passed in 2005 that allowed for virtual charter schools. Despite the amendment, Ball State was obviously premature in sponsoring the schools before funding was guaranteed.
Although it's unlikely Ball State knowingly misled students by sponsoring the schools there's no doubt better communication would have ensured students had less problems now. Ball State officials should have worked with the virtual schools to make sure prospective students knew that the creation of schools was contingent on funding from Indiana. With proper notification, students could have pursued enrollment in alternative schools instead of solely relying on the virtual schools.
Effective communication will be vital during the two-year moratorium on funding as well. Ball State officials need to work closely with the General Assembly and virtual school officials to plan out how to best serve students and avoid future funding problems. A major concern is how much money virtual schools should allocate for each student, and without proper communication between all parties this problem will go unsolved.
Ball State officials need to find their way to the real world. Ball State doesn't want its first attempt at sponsoring virtual schools to be its last.
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