Due to a state law passed in 1998, what would have been New York's first online public shool is now nothing more than a bright idea. The New York Virtual Charter School would have provided students with computers, online access, and curriculum at no cost to the students' parents. It would also allow students to be educated from virtually anywhere. 1998, eh? Maybe they should look at revising that law.

The virtual school drew strong support from those who saw it as an innovative addition to the public education system. But some political and educational organizations said the school was elitist and promised to drain public school budgets.

 

In the end, a 1998 state law that requires all grades at each charter school to be housed in a single building killed the Virtual Charter School's proposal on Tuesday.

 

But the school would have allowed students to be educated from home or anywhere they had access to a Net-connected computer -- a potential violation of state law, according to James Merriman, executive director of the Charter Schools Institute.