Commission to consider online schools

A new education commission has been formed to look at online kindergarten through 12th-grade education in Colorado in the wake of a recent scathing audit of internet schools.

The Trujillo Commission for Online Education will make recommendations to state officials on how to respond to issues that were raised in the audit.

The commission will be hosted by the Donnell-Kay Foundation.

"The widespread use of online K-12 learning in Colorado is relatively new, but it is growing rapidly," said Nina Lopez, policy director of the Donnell-Kay Foundation.

"The commission's objective will be to create guideposts for thoughtful policy on the issue."

The audit report released Monday charged that online education programs are plagued by poor performing schools. It also noted that the programs are in such disarray that state educators don't know what to do with them.

The commission, to be headed by Lorenzo Trujillo, University of Colorado School of Law assistant dean, will seek to identify best practices in Colorado as well as in other states.

Other members of the commission are Kin Griffith from Colorado Virtual Academy; Tim Snyder, executive director of Colorado online learning; and Jane W. Urschel, associate director of Colorado Association of School Boards.

The commission expects to release its final recommendations to state officials Feb. 15.

In the meantime, the group is soliciting input from the public on the online schools.

Comments can either be emailed to www.dkfoundation.org or submitted by regular mail to Nina Lopez, Donnell-Kay Foundation, 730 17th Street, Suite 950, Denver, CO 80202.

According to a statement from the commission, members expect to have preliminary recommendations by Jan. 22.

On Feb. 1, the commission has scheduled a public forum where individuals can respond to the preliminary recommendations. The time and location of the forum has not yet been set.