Oxford Schools has been commended for its ‘innovation’ by district and state officials in recent years.

Now, out-of-the-box initiatives like Oxford Virtual Academy (OVA) has attracted the attention of an entirely different sector within the education field—a statewide online charter school network.

Connections Education, a part of global learning company Pearson, recently proposed an application to Oxford Schools which could create a partnership between the online learning provider and the district—and could lead to the creation of an Oxford Schools-authorized cyber charter school called Lighthouse Connections Academy.

Connections Education, founded in 2001, is a provider of high-quality online education solutions for schools, school districts, and students in grades K–12. Connections Education is accredited by AdvancED and supports a network of 34 full-time schools nationwide.

Connections Education has proposed an application to Oxford school officials, requesting that the district authorize a cyber school of excellence called Lighthouse Connections Academy.

A school of excellence that is a cyber charter school is a public school academy that meets the federal definition of a charter school, has been issued a contract to operate and provides full-time instruction to pupils through online learning, which may be remote or from a school facility.

Local districts in Michigan may issue one charter contract for a cyber charter school that may operate statewide.

A presentation was given to the Board of Education regarding the proposal by Pearson/Connections Education Senior Vice President Donna Hutchison at its Jan. 9 meeting.

According to Hutchison, Oxford Schools has a history of innovation which is shown in initiatives such as the creation of OVA. The proposal provides an opportunity to take that innovation to the next level and to bring Oxford values to online students statewide, Hutchinson added.

“We want to have a full-time program that’s able to serve students across the state,” Hutchison told the board. “Oxford is an extremely innovative district. It has a vision that we think could go beyond just the Oxford community and could serve students statewide… taking that vision in Oxford and shining that vision forth across the entire state.”

Charter schools in Michigan are governed by a local board of directors (which are appointed by the school’s authorizer) and are required to meet the operational standards of both its authorizer and the State Board of Education.

Universities, community colleges, intermediate school districts and local school districts can authorize a charter school in Michigan.

If the proposal is approved, Oxford Schools would act as the authorizer for Lighthouse.

If authorized by Oxford Schools, Lighthouse Connections Academy could then apply to receive a building code through the State of Michigan.

Lighthouse would receive its curriculum and other services from Connections Education while Oxford Schools would act as its authorizer and fiscal agent.

Hutchinson added that a learning center could also be created for Lighthouse students within the Oxford area, should officials agree to pursue the partnership.

Among the potential benefits to the district, Hutchison listed the creation of new jobs for local educators at the Lighthouse learning center and additional revenue which could be collected by the district through authorization fees.

If the cyber school of excellence is approved, Oxford Schools would be permitted to request an annual authorization fee from Lighthouse Connections Academy in the contract.

State law permits authorizers to retain up to 3 percent of the total school aid received by the charter school, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

According to the proposal, Lighthouse Connections Academy would operate under its own board and administration but would need to meet the performance standards set by the state and by Oxford Community Schools.

The Lighthouse board would hire an administrative team of its own and handle all hiring and contracting, so the responsibility wouldn’t fall into the workload of Oxford’s current administrative team, Hutchison told the board.

During the meeting, several board members expressed concerns that the approval of this authorization could create competition for online students between OVA and Lighthouse Connections Academy.

During the board comments portion of the meeting, Trustee Heather Shafer said, “I think this would be an opportunity for a lot of people, but I guess I’m getting the feeling that it’s competitive to our OVA program. I don’t know if the community would swallow that well. I’m very concerned… There’s a lot that has gone into our OVA program, I just want to make sure that is a very secure relationship and that this won’t compete with that at all.”

Trustee Jenny Guthrie agreed, adding with this sentiment.

“I still am quite concerned that we are creating competition for our own academy because we would like to be able to provide something on a bigger scale. I see the value of that tremendously, but I also think we should not be doing that at the risk of sun-setting our OVA, or at least overshadowing what we have to offer,” said Guthrie

Superintendent Tim Throne told board members that he believed the creation of an Oxford Schools-authorized cyber charter school could actually reduce the amount of competition the district would have with other state charter schools and that he did not feel it would overshadow OVA.

“There are state (cyber) charters that we’re competing with that exist today… ones that have existed for the last number of years. If we currently have people in OVA or at a traditional school that aren’t happy and want to jump to something else, they could do that tomorrow and we can’t stop them, but it would be with a different charter that we have nothing to do with. I also think OVA and a cyber charter school have different markets,” said Throne.

Additionally, Throne said he felt a partnership with Connections Education, a well-established online learning provider, would give district officials a network of seasoned administrators to “bounce ideas off of.”

“We want OVA to continue to get better,” Throne explained. “There (are) not a lot of other virtual academies that we can call up and ask “What’s worked? What hasn’t worked? One of the biggest benefits I see to this us being able to share with Lighthouse what we’ve learned and, at the same time, them providing feedback for us.”

Trustee Dan D’Alessandro said while he had initially felt skepticism when he learned of the proposal, he said could also see benefits to creating a partnership with the cyber charter school.

“I understand where everyone’s coming from… If an Oxford student decides they want to go somewhere else, this provides a supplement to that. From our perspective, it’s giving us an opportunity to build the Oxford brand… This is building the Oxford brand. Not the virtual academy’s brand, but our district brand… It’s partnering with (Connections Education) to be “Team O” outside of Oakland County,” said D’Alessandro.

Trustee Korey Bailey said he worried that the district’s proposed role of ‘fiscal agent’ could call its financial integrity into question for district taxpayers.

“Because this is a separate entity… you know many people will be saying ‘This is another program that’s taking away from our current students’… How can we ensure that resources from Oxford aren’t going to be funding this?” Bailey asked Throne.

Throne replied that communication would be the key to keeping the community informed, should the board decide to pursue this proposal.

“We have to be 100 percent transparent,” said Throne. “(Lighthouse) would be a totally separate entity. They’ve got their own board … Yes, we are the authorizer. There would be that relationship. But we would have to be really clear and articulate what we, as an authorizer, are required to do versus what we can’t do. There are a lot of things that we can’t do as an authorizer… but it’s an opportunity for us to educate our community and bring students statewide along with us”

Throne suggested Oxford board members meet with Connections Education/Pearson representatives and with OVA administrators before the Board of Education’s Jan. 23 meeting.

The board is expected to make a decision on whether or not it will pursue the proposed application with Connections Education/Pearson and move forward with the creation of a contract at that meeting.