Teachers’ unions and others say much of the push for online courses, like vouchers and charter schools, is intended to channel taxpayers’ money into the private sector.
“What they want is to substitute technology for teachers,” said Alex Molnar, professor of education policy at Arizona State University.
In Idaho, Gov. C. L. Otter and the elected superintendent of public instruction, Tom Luna, both Republicans, promoted giving students laptops and requiring online courses.
The State Legislature, pressed by critics who said the online mandate would cost teachers jobs, rejected it, but Mr. Luna said in an interview that he would propose it this summer through the State Board of Education, which supports him.
“I have no doubt we’ll get a robust rule through them,” he said. Four online courses is “going to be the starting number.”
