Texas Needs to Be in the Top Tier Among States for Digital Learning

We are proud to share this invitee post authored past Jonathan R. Hornok and his wife Mariah, with input from fellow advocates, about why Texas should go along to support digital learning options like Great Hearts Online and SAISD's remote education program. An edited version of this post appeared this morning equally an op-ed in the San Antonio Express-News.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has endeavored to "empower parents to choose the schoolhouse that's best for their children" and to "propel Texas to the top tier amid states for digital learning." As a state, nosotros have an opportunity right now to take a great stride toward both.

Because of the governor's leadership during the pandemic, innovation in virtual learning took off around the state, offer students loftier-quality online school options that were previously unavailable in Texas. House Bill 1468 would have connected the innovative momentum. The bill enjoyed wide bipartisan back up and would have provided Texas students the same kind of virtual learning that is bachelor to students in states like Florida and Arizona. But when the House adjourned just minutes before it took upwardly H.B. 1468, that momentum came to a screeching halt. Now thousands of students, parents, and educators across the land are in limbo equally the outset of school quickly approaches.

Advocating for Digital Learning

30 contained school districts, including Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, have requested the governor to put virtual learning on the agenda for the special session.

San Antonio ISD board president Christina Martinez describes her commune's needs this way: "Parents and caregivers are making calculated decisions every day near their children'south wellness and well-being. Our focus as a district is to get as many children dorsum in person as possible because that's where nearly children learn best. But nosotros likewise understand that our very diverse district needs options for families who are only non ready to come back nonetheless."

Virtual learning, for example, supports families like La Vernia mother Kristin Branyon, a certified Texas instructor, for whom neither in-person schoolhouse nor homeschooling are feasible options because her four children have life-threatening wellness conditions and profound learning challenges. In a public letter to Abbott, shared in the San Antonio Charter Moms discussion group—Branyon has implored the governor to make accommodations for online schools that H.B. 1468 would accept supported. For autumn 2021, Branyon's children were enrolled in Neat Hearts Online, an academy immune under the beak, but now her family is in limbo. "My children would finally exist able to attend classes with their peers, and I honestly cried tears of joy," she wrote. "There was finally a place for my medically challenged children to fit. They finally had the risk to exist normal."

Virtual learning also supports elite Texas athletes like Simone Biles, who chose to school at home so she could pursue her Olympic dreams. But unique students and big-city schoolhouse districts are not the only ones who want virtual learning. Rural Texans similar my family desire information technology, besides.

This year, my kindergartner and third grader attended Nifty Hearts Online, an open-enrollment classical charter school—an pick previously unavailable in our modest Texas boondocks. This online university was designed from the basis up to be a top tier digital learning community. Subsequently seeing our children thrive in this academic environment, my wife and I are convinced that it is the best schoolhouse for our children.

Digital Learning Helped Our Family Thrive

Nosotros first learned nearly this classical public charter school when our family unit lived in Arizona, where our eldest attended a Keen Hearts brick-and-mortar campus. Our family eventually moved to Texarkana, where we decided to homeschool our children because it immune united states of america to be securely engaged with our children'due south teaching while creating the margin and flexibility—read amend rested, less harried children—we needed to exist a salubrious, happy family with a gaggle of small kids. Homeschooling also afforded the states the only pick for an academically rigorous, classical didactics in our small Texas town.

But schooling children at domicile is hard. Virtual learning has alleviated many of our frustrations without compromising what we beloved nigh homeschooling. First, the educational community was phenomenal. Our kids' teachers continued with our children and motivated them toward academic excellence in a way that we as parents could not. Our children besides enjoyed the daily camaraderie of the online classroom experience. But put, our family thrived because we became part of a agreeing educational community not otherwise available in our town.

2d, our virtual university continued us with an established brick-and-mortar schoolhouse that provided exceptional classical curricula and bookish resources. For example, the academic assessments gave us confidence that we had constitute the correct fit for our third-grader after she tested far above grade level. We were also thankful to see our children tested for learning differences, with the knowledge that the charter schoolhouse network had the specialists and resources available to identify and accost any challenges. In other words, we are confident that virtual learning is the right fit for our kids because the data show that it is working for our family.

My fear is that my children'south loftier caliber online academy—Corking Hearts Online—volition not be an option for my family this fall. Parents like us are desperate to choose the schoolhouse that's best for our children and to brand Texas a top-tier incubator for digital learning. But without whatsoever intervention, students beyond the country volition be forced to settle for a less-than-all-time fit when school resumes in August.

Charter Moms Chats

Jonathan and Mariah Hornok spoke with Inga Cotton fiber on Lease Moms Chats on June 22, 2022 at 4:00 PM Central live on Facebook and YouTube.

Jonathan R. Hornok, his wife, Mariah, and their four children live in Texarkana, Texas. Jonathan is an attorney who has served as federal prosecutor, a constabulary clerk to the Honorable Lavenski R. Smith of the U.s.a. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and a law clerk to the Honorable Jill N. Parrish of the Utah Supreme Court. Jonathan holds a B.S. in Reckoner Scientific discipline from John Brown University and a J.D. from the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Constabulary.

Texas Needs to Be in the Top Tier Among States for Digital Learning

Advocating for Digital Learning

Digital Learning Helped Our Family Thrive

Charter Moms Chats

Read More About Digital Learning and Parent Advocacy

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