The cat was missing, and the dog killed it. The Doritos were the giveaway.
That was what I concluded during my first week of sixth grade and my first week at public cyber charter school in September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
My mom was my parent facilitator, so I explained that the assignment was based on a Super Bowl commercial. It was for my Earth and Space Science class and was meant to teach us the difference between clear evidence and conclusions based on limited evidence.
That same year, even though I was only 10 years old, I was in geometry (having already taken pre-algebra in fourth grade and algebra in fifth) and learning about proofs and the need to show each step on how I reached my conclusions. If I didn’t show every step, I would lose points. So I learned the importance of logic and reasoning, making sure everything was connected.
That is why I felt compelled to write this oped, as my school is now threatened by HB1500 with what to me seem like facts not in evidence and missing steps. I got an A in those classes, which helped set my foundation for thinking logically and guided me through upper-level AP courses that my school challenges us with. Just this week, I got top grades on AP’s in Calculus BC, U.S. Government and Politics, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, and Physics C: Mechanics, so I feel my school has well prepared me academically for this task.
HB1500 proposes a flat $8,000 from home districts for each student attending public cyber charter school, no matter what the district spends on each student themselves. If I apply geometry or algebra 2 to this, I’d ask for the formula and what is on the other side of the equation. If the known answer is $8,000, what is the cost per student? What is the balance of current payments per student to actual expenditures? Neither of these things follow a track of logic. Some point to the state audit that was released this spring but data is missing. Specifically, the impact of the multi-million dollar cuts made this year by reworking the special education formula. If this was a word problem, my answer would be marked wrong (or maybe partial credit) if I hadn’t included those in my calculations.
If I would have proposed the $8,000 mark as an appropriate amount of funding per student on a physics test, my teacher would have jokingly subtracted a zillion points and written “where did this come from?” He has taught me from STEM to AP’s to quantum physics so I know it would’ve been to make me think again. So I pose the same question here, but more respectfully. No district currently funds at $8,000 and many are more than twice that. So how and why did $8,000 become the number?
The state has also not included what the costs are as compared to brick and mortar public schools and if the comparisons being made are conclusions on limited evidence (no one saw the dog kill the cat). All that’s clear is that public cyber charter school funding is being seen at fault.
In my economics classes, we examined the dynamics of economies and the idea of trade-offs. Based on my studies, I’d ask to show state legislators what public cyber charter students are losing when their funding is cut: exceptional teachers, materials, and overall classroom quality and effectiveness. Where are their models that would show the future viability and sustainability of my school and others if dramatically cut to $8,000?
If this was a writing assignment for my AP English language and composition class, I’d be making sure to use proper names and MLA formatting. So throughout this piece I made sure to use the proper language when referring to my school. It is a public cyber charter school. Critics drop the word public a lot and that’s so important. It is a public school option, just like brick and mortar schools or magnet schools. Yet no one is talking about decreasing the funding for other forms of public schools – only mine.
Whether I was still in sixth grade or now as I enter 11th grade, I conclude that from presented data the proposed $8,000 per student for public cyber charter schools doesn’t add up. It doesn’t meet the scientific evidence threshold, the mathematical calculations, the economic analysis, the governmental equity, or even English proper use. What I do see from the evidence is if the funding changes occur, there is no data to show that my school can still succeed for me and the 65,000 other students that depend on it.
My school matters, and I am counting on it continuing to provide the phenomenal education opportunities I have had since sixth grade and hope to have my junior and senior year. If this article does nothing else, I hope it motivates you to visit our school and meet with me and my fellow students, or at least go online to find the facts not in evidence. Meanwhile, if you want to watch the Doritos commercial, I think it’s still on YouTube.