Last month the Charleston Daily Mail and others were very critical of the West Virginia Board of Education’s new rule on innovation zones.  The theme of the comments was that the legislation and rule were so burdensome that no one would bother to innovate.  What are the burdensome requirements?

• The proposer much show that the innovative idea has community (e.g., parents, students, county of board of education) support.  Is any innovation zone going to succeed without such support?  No.
• The proposer must have the support of 80 percent of school employees.  Is any innovation zone going to succeed without such support?  No.
• The proposer must demonstrate “quality of innovation design.”  Is that a bad thing?  No.  Do you want your child attending a school where the innovation has not been well thought out or is inconsistent with educational best practices research?  I hope not.
• The proposer actually must undergo an interview and a school visit before we hand over the keys to our children’s futures.  A radical requirement?  I don’t think so.

Do firms that provide business start-ups with venture capital adopt the laissez faire approach advocated by the Daily Mail for schools?  Of course not.  They expect business plans that include everything from hiring plans to marketing plans to budgets.  And they don’t give away their money without someone (generally quite a few people) meeting with the applicant.  Why should our schools be any different?  If anything, the stakes are higher.

It’s one thing to be critical of the bureaucracy within existing school systems.  It’s another thing altogether to be critical of the “due diligence” that the State Department of Education seeks to perform to ensure that our children are entrusted to people with solid plans to educate them innovatively.