Hoping to make money to help relieve property taxes, the Auburn, Maine, school department will try to become a University of Phoenix-style developer and marketer of online high school courses for foreign students.
The target market is China, Auburn Superintendent Tom Morrill said last week, just two weeks after unveiling an iPad 2-for-all-kindergartners initiative.
鈥淭his is completely new in the United States,鈥� said Susan D. Patrick, the president and chief executive officer of the Vienna, Va.-based International Association for K-12 Online Learning, or . 鈥淭his is the first example of selling internationally that I鈥檝e heard of.鈥�
Other countries, such as India, have viewed education as an 鈥渆xport opportunity鈥� by creating digital content with international curriculum standards in mind, said Ms. Patrick, but this is the first example from a U.S. school district that she has seen.
鈥淚n tight budget times, I can certainly understand how districts are looking at new opportunities,鈥� she said.
The school department, which oversees about 3,600 students, has hired a lobbyist to help push through a state bill allowing public schools to sell online high school courses to out-of-state and foreign students.
LD 938, which has been passed by the legislature鈥檚 education committee, would allow public schools to sell online courses out of state and out of country for an amount higher than what the courses cost to produce, or for a profit.
Those benefiting would be Auburn taxpayers.
鈥淭he idea is to pump some revenue back into the community to lower taxes and afford our students here the opportunity to network with students from foreign countries,鈥� Mr. Morrill said. It鈥檚 too early to predict how much money the school department could make, he said.
But before Auburn can start selling online courses, the school department had to make sure it was legal.
Enter Portland, Maine, attorney Richard Spencer, also the lawyer for former gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler, who has worked in China. (That鈥檚 just a coincidence, Mr. Spencer said.)
The Auburn school department paid Mr. Spencer $7,558.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 for palling around in Augusta,鈥� Mr. Spencer said, referring to the state capital. 鈥淢ost of it was legal work rather than lobbying. I had to review the laws governing education, all of the regulations of the department. Then I had to meet with the department to see what they were willing to go along with.鈥� After that he drafted the legislation.
In addition to making money for taxpayers, offering high school courses to foreign students 鈥渃ould in turn help broaden the education experience of our students, put them in contact with foreign students,鈥� Mr. Morrill said. Those experiences could include student exchanges or Auburn students鈥� online collaboration with students in China and other countries.
Why China?
China became an interest, Superintendent Morrill said, because he and others know Mainers who work as educational administrators there. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing how small the world is,鈥� he said.
The idea came out of Auburn鈥檚 work, led by educator Mike Muir, in developing online courses for Auburn students, including courses for students who are at risk of dropping out or who have medical conditions that don鈥檛 allow them to be in school.
China invested $1 billion in online education from 2003 to 2007, said Ms. Patrick, of iNACOL, 鈥渁nd officials say that China is going to be the first country to completely mainstream online education, so they are talking to everybody about where they can get content,鈥� including state virtual schools.
Ms. Patrick said she had not heard, though, of Chinese education organizations鈥� approaching individual districts.
The number of Auburn students taking online courses 鈥渋s small,鈥� Mr. Morrill said. 鈥淏ut courses online is certainly something that鈥檚 exploding.鈥�
As Mr. Muir developed online courses, the superintendent said, 鈥減eople began talking that with the portable design, the courses could go anywhere.鈥� Former Maine residents living in China have told Mr. Morrill the idea 鈥渓ooks hopeful,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e knew we couldn鈥檛 start until this was cleared up鈥� with legislation, he said.
Courses offered, from science to the humanities, would meet Maine requirements just as those courses taken by Maine students. Foreign students could take a full semester or multiple semesters, Mr. Morrill said.
