Latest news with #AmericanVirtualAcademy
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
OSBE members press Supt. Walters on partnership with out-of-state private school
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KFOR) – State school board members questioned Public School Superintendent Ryan Walters' push for parents to enroll in an out-of-state private school Thursday. Board members voice concern with new ranking of 50th in education Officials said the school doesn't have an Oklahoma address, and it hasn't even applied with the Oklahoma Tax Commission. But Supt. Walters said it's eligible for the Private School Tax Credit. 'Is there not an Oklahoma school or company that can provide the same thing? So we're not having to seek that from out of state,' asked board member Becky Carson. It's American Virtual Academy, also called American Virtual LLC. Supt. Walters sent an email out that claimed, 'Left-wing indoctrination in schools poses a serious threat to our students, and all parents deserve more options for their kids. OSDE is proud to be one of the first states in the country to do this.' AVA is a charter school facing a potential shutdown in Arizona, where officials have stated that the school's students are performing so poorly that it could be shut down. 'We will continue to fight back against a woke, liberal agenda in our schools,' said Supt. Walters in a video he posted online. Board members had many questions Thursday at the monthly board meeting, questions that Supt. Walters gave answers to but that didn't add up. Supt. Walters said that this out-of-state school is eligible for the Private School Tax Credit. The credit in Oklahoma is based on the tax dollars per student they have enrolled. The parents are then able to file a credit on their taxes. 'But isn't that only for schools that are in Oklahoma?' asked board member Michael Tinney. 'They have an Oklahoma address,' responded Supt. Walters. But they don't, according to the Secretary of State's office. News 4 called their office just after Supt. Walters claimed they had an address; they said they don't. Neither does Primavera, which is an online charter school in Arizona that AVA operates. Supt. Walters told board members Thursday that the press somehow got it all wrong about AVA, that it wasn't the same school 'out in Arizona.' But it's run by the same founder, Damian Creamer. He posted on social media after the announcement of the OSDE partnership, 'Huge win. School choice is about putting power back in the hands of families. Celebrating Oklahoma families Another issue, it seems like AVA hasn't applied to be a private school with the Oklahoma Tax Commission. After Thursday's meeting, Jennifer Palmer with Oklahoma Watch pressed Supt. Walters on that several times, to which he replied, 'They are already eligible.' Palmer then asked again, 'They have not applied according to the tax commission.' He said, 'We'll have to get the tax commission going on that then.' Then News 4 asked, 'And the Secretary of State said they don't have an address, you said they had an address in Oklahoma. What's that address?' Supt. Walters replied, 'I don't know all the details on that. I know that we're going to have them available for students this fall. I know that they are working through all of those hoops. I don't know the address.' School starts in around two weeks for many Oklahoma students. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
New K-12 school focuses on promoting American principles, eliminating 'woke ideology'
A new K-12 online school is focusing on promoting American principles and "eliminating woke ideology." The president of the American Virtual Academy, Damian Creamer, told Fox News Digital that he wanted to provide an alternative to parents who were fed up with liberal ideology being taught in the classroom. "We're really focused on giving families an opportunity to put their kids in a school that is going to respect their values and make sure that we're teaching American principles and providing a different option to families out there than what they typically run across," Creamer said. The online-only Kindergarten through 12th grade accredited school launched in April of this year. The private nonprofit school charges $5,000-$6,000 a year, depending on the grade. All 50 states have access to the K-12 online school because it's virtual. Eight states allow the use of vouchers and school choice scholarships to fund tuition: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming. American Virtual Academy currently has 600 students enrolled and hopes to grow to 10,000 within three years. Creamer added that American Virtual Academy also emphasizes the importance of reading, writing, and math. "They don't have to worry about what we're teaching in the school and how we're teaching things and that our values resonate with their values and, as the founder of the school, I had an opportunity to be really particular about how I was going to put this together, making sure that it took a lot of time to think about what is it exactly," he said. "What we can do to support families throughout the country, make sure that their students coming to American Virtual Academy are going to excel academically, and they're going to get a great education, but also just eliminating all the woke ideology and the DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), the CRT (critical race theory), the transgenderism, all of that stuff right there." "That's not anything that we teach," he concluded. There has been an uptick in parents choosing options outside their neighborhood school since 2020. Homeschool enrollment has increased since the coronavirus pandemic, indicating a growing trend of parents overlooking public schools. Several states have been responding to the trend of parents choosing alternatives to traditional public school settings by passing universal school choice legislation, allowing all children within the state an opportunity to access the school that fits their needs. Arizona became the first state to offer universal school choice for all families in 2022, launching an $800 million program that gives parents $7,000 to put toward their children's tuition. New Hampshire is the latest state to pass universal school choice, joining a trend of states with Republican trifectas expanding education options for children. New Hampshire is the first state that passed the legislation that went for Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024. The Trump administration instituted a federal tax credit scholarship, giving individuals all across the country an opportunity to support school choice programs within their state, circumventing anti-school choice measures. Corey DeAngelis of the American Culture Project told Fox News Digital that the growth of alternative education models is emblematic of a growing trend of parents being fed up with the traditional public school setting. "The teachers union made their anti-American agenda obvious at their annual convention this month by passing resolutions that had everything to do with politics and nothing to do with education. The NEA passed resolutions that read like a declaration of war on the Trump Administration. Parents wants their children to get an education, not left-wing indoctrination," DeAngelis said. "There are too many woke private schools that are just as bad – ideologically – as the government schools parents are fleeing. But the good news is that supply meets demand. New options like American Virtual Academy are sprouting up because most families want something else," he added.
