NC school board sets conditions for online charter schools

By EMERY P. DALESIO
Associated Press

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — The state school board is nearing approval of North Carolina’s first online schools run by companies that lean heavily on parents to guide students sitting at home.

The State Board of Education on Wednesday reviewed terms of the four-year experiment in virtual charter schools that were toughened in the past two months.

The school board wants online education giants K12 Inc. and Connections Education to provide computers and Internet access to students whose families cannot afford them. The board is considering excluding children who don’t have an adult to oversee their classwork.

State lawmakers last summer ordered the test involving two online charter schools, which would operate under fewer rules than other public schools.

The state school board is expected to vote Thursday to allow them to open in August.

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