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2010 BYU Educ. & L.J. 191 (2010)
Unchartered Territory: The Current Legal Landscape of Public Cyber Charter Schools

handle is hein.journals/byuelj2010 and id is 195 raw text is: UNCHARTERED TERRITORY: THE CURRENT LEGAL LANDSCAPE OF PUBLIC CYBER CHARTER SCHOOLS Kevin P. Brady, Ph.D., Regina R. Umpstead, J.D., Ph.D., & Suzanne E. Eckes, J.D., Ph.D.1 ABSTRACT In the United States, cyber, or virtual charter schools have been growing in popularity. Cyber charter schools are relatively new and emerging as a type of alternative school. These schools offer most or all of their instructional programs over the Internet, and are not restricted to officially designated brick and mortar physical locations. Since their creation, cyber charter schools have experienced a steady growth in number and geographic scope across the United States. For example, there were only 60 cyber charter schools in 13 states in 2003, but by 2009 the number tripled to 195 schools, operating in 26 states and serving over 105,000 students. Not surprisingly, several legal issues involving cyber charter schools have arisen. The legal status of charter schools is largely dependent on individual state laws. Therefore, to analyze the laws governing publicly supported charter schools, it is critical to understand the legislative differences among the states. Cyber charter schools present unique and potentially troubling legal concerns for states lacking specific statutory language referencing them in their existing charter school legislation. Most existing state- level charter school legislation was enacted prior to the development of the technology required for cyber charter 1. Kevin Brady is an assistant professor in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Adult and Higher Education at North Carolina State University. Regina Umpstead is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Central Michigan University. Suzanne Eckes is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Indiana University. Special thanks to Bruce Umpstead, Emily Richardson, and Benjamin Superfine for their detailed feedback on this article.

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