As Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and the state Legislature battle over the regulation and funding of virtual schools, they have largely ignored the most important issue: the way that virtual schools distort school finance.

A bi-partisan deal to save virtual schools -- schools that allow students to stay home and take classes via computer -- fell apart when Doyle insisted on a statewide enrollment cap of 3,500. He would still permit schools to receive state aid under public school open enrollment, which allows children to attend a school outside the district they reside and transfers state aid payments to the child’s new school.

Doyle has it backwards. Instead of a statewide cap, the law should sharply limit how much virtual schools can collect in open enrollment payments.

Virtual schools have become cash cows for the small number of districts that have created them. The Northern Ozaukee School District collected a staggering $3.6 million in open enrollment funds through the Wisconsin Virtual Academy. Its superintendent, William Habron, denies this represents a “financial boon” for his district, but that directly contradicts supporters who claim virtual schools educate students for a fraction of what traditional students cost. The reality is that districts with virtual schools receive revenues that far exceed the schools’ actual cost -- how else to explain the Monroe School District? It’s so flush with cash that it’s running television ads soliciting open-enrollment transfers to Monroe Virtual High School.

The Tomah School District lost $58,000 in open enrollment revenue to virtual schools, and it’s myth that schools gain a dollar-for-dollar savings for every student that leaves. Fixed costs like building maintenance and utilities don’t shrink just because one less student is enrolled. The math is particularly daunting for smaller districts that can’t lay off their only fourth-grade teacher, close their only school building or fire their only custodian.

Virtual schools are starting to mimic four-year-old kindergartens -- established not for educational purposes but as a clever way to attract state aid. Most school districts retain a healthy skepticism of teaching via computer screen and whether such an education can deliver the social skills a child will need later in life. Until the governor and state Legislature address the open-enrollment issue, they won’t solve the biggest problem presented by virtual schools.