PORTLAND — Fewer than one percent of Oregon students are enrolled in online public schools. But for nearly five years, the funding, quality and financial management of these virtual schools have been dominating conversation in State Capitol hearing rooms and school district board rooms.

The Oregon Board of Education recently took a small step toward resolving one of the thorniest questions of the virtual schools movement: who decides whether a child can attend an online-only school?

In Oregon, education dollars follow the students. And this issue pits parent choice against school district stability.

‘Needs to be a gate’

Initially, each of six members of the state board suggested slightly different solutions. After nearly three hours of discussion, however, most board members said they would support parent choice but only if there was a cap on how many students could leave an individual school district.

“Parents should have the option to transfer,” said board chairwoman Brenda Frank. “I don’t believe the district has all the answers. But I think there just needs to be a gate.”

Though they couldn’t agree on details, the board will send this recommendation as part of a larger report on virtual schools to the Legislature on Sept.1. The Legislature will take up the issue again in 2011.

Since Oregon’s first virtual charter school opened in 2005, some school districts, union leaders and politicians have been concerned that the schools would pull too many kids and resources from traditional public schools and cripple already-underfunded programs.

Meanwhile, parents, charter and virtual school advocates argued that parents deserve the right to choose what educational option best fits their child.

Virtual charter schools are public schools that operate through a charter or contract with a local district or the Oregon Board of Education. They employ teachers who provide lessons online using electronic documents, videos, e-mail, telephones and Web cameras. Oregon Connections Academy, which opened in partnership with the Scio School District in 2005, was the state’s first virtual school. It served more than 2,500 students during the 2009-10 school year.

Rob Kremer is a charter school advocate and consultant for Connections Academy, the Baltimore-based for-profit company that provides services, including curriculum, to Oregon Connections Academy. He said he had mixed feelings about the board’s recommendation.

“If the policy statement is that districts do not have veto power over students’ requests to enroll in an online charter school, I would say that’s progress,” Kremer said. “That said, once we get to that cap, any school district will be able to use these arbitrary caps to deny children the education their parents want for them.”

Could affect funding

But some, like Laurie Wimmer, government relations consultant for the Oregon Education Association, say the board had to consider the needs of the more than 500,000 students in Oregon public schools who could be adversely affected by the choices of a few parents.

In Oregon, the state funds schools according to their enrollment. So, as students leave one school district, so does the state money. If schools lose enough kids, it could prompt a district to reduce programs, staffing or close a school altogether.

“People always criticize us for focusing too much on the system, but we are charged with keeping the system in balance and being fiscal managers of that system,” Wimmer said. “This is about all students, not just the few who choose a laptop-only education. I think it is the majority of kids that were getting lost in the conversation.”