Online-teaching company plays role in school-reform package

RICHMOND

A company that sells online education programs gave Virginia lawmakers more than $57,000 this past year and then helped develop legislation to regulate and expand virtual schools.

The bill passed both the House and Senate this week.

Lobbyists for K12 Inc. sat in on meetings between McDonnell administration officials, legislators and representatives from education groups over the past few weeks as they hashed out a compromise to the governor's education-overhaul package.

K12 was the only private company invited by the governor's office to participate in working group meetings that dealt with three separate bills involving charter schools, laboratory schools and virtual schools.

K12's lobbyists, former state Del. Thomas Bolvin and McGuireWoods attorney Stephen Horton, were primarily involved in discussions about virtual schools, people familiar with the meetings said.

"I wouldn't say, in any way, shape or form, they impeded the process," said Pat Lacy, special counsel to the Virginia School Boards Association. "As to how they came to be in the room, I can't speak to that."

Supporters of McDonnell's education initiatives have spoken extensively in recent weeks about bringing together the stakeholders on these bills, but much of the focus has been on the involvement and buy-in of the school boards association, the Virginia Education Association and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.

"We brought coalitions that met for 40 hours," Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Lynchburg, who sponsored the bills, told his colleagues on the Senate floor before more than an hour long and passionate debate on the package.

K12 participated because it is a large, online provider based in Herndon, wrote Stacey Johnson, a spokeswoman for the governor, in an e-mail.

The company has given McDonnell's campaign and inaugural committee $40,000 since August 2009. The company contributed $17,500 in the past year to the state parties and legislators who sit mostly on the education committees.

"They, as well as other stakeholders, were brought into the discussion shaping our education reform package in an effort to discuss all possible options and alternatives," Johnson said.

All private online providers could have participated at a separate public meeting on virtual schools held on March 2, but only K12 attended.

K12 expanded into Virginia schools last year with its first full online program in Carroll County. Other school divisions in the state offer parts of the company's curriculum. But K12, which reported a net income of $16.7 million for the last six months of 2009, anticipates expanding.

"The interest in online education in Virginia and across the country is growing," said Jeff Kwitowski, the company's spokesman.

Kwitowski said the company's involvement in the legislation had nothing to do with its financial contributions to elected officials.

"We support policy makers that support innovation and school options," Kwitowski said. "I think, based on the fact that we're the leading provider... we have seats at a lot of tables across the country."

K12's interest in Virginia's legislation was in ensuring quality programs, he said.

Other states that had problems with the quality of virtual programs reacted by adopting laws that clamped down on online learning, Kwitowski said.

The company's representatives were generally supportive of the educators' concerns and suggestions, even agreeing to a requirement that online teachers be licensed, said Robley Jones, the VEA's lobbyist.

Online education is available, and the state needs to monitor it, which this legislation tries to do, Jones said

But an attempt by Sen. George Barker, D-Alexandria, in the past week to restrict how much state per-pupil funding supports online programs, did raise concerns from K12 lobbyists.

Barker withdrew his amendment to the legislation and said that all the stakeholders will work on developing a funding plan that can be considered by next year's General Assembly.

Pilot writer Tom Shean contributed to this report.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com