Colorado’s My Tech High program is in the homeschool headlines, if there are actually homeschool headlines. Judging from the traffic on my previous My Tech High post, my readers want to know what is going on with the program. To be honest, so do I.
Before jumping into what is happening with My Tech High and the Board of Education in Colorado, I think a little background on how the program works will be helpful.
Colorado Homeschool Enrichment Program
My Tech High is a homeschool enrichment program that started operating in Colorado in 2019. The program is run by a private company that partners with a charter school and two school districts to receive funding for homeschool students that enroll in the program.
My Tech High, a Utah based company contracts with these partner schools to receive a portion of funding for each student. How much money are they getting for each student, I don’t know. That’s one of the unanswered questions I have.
Enrolled students then set up a schedule of classes that they can either do directly through My Tech or get funded for independent courses. There is also a tech fund that covers a wide variety of educational resources, from textbooks to Netflix or internet bills.
Is My Tech High Parent-Led or Teacher-Led?
In my experience, the My Tech High Colorado program has always been parent-led. This information is important to the situation with the Board of Education.
My Tech’s direct courses could be considered teacher-led, in a really loose sense. I don’t know how many families participate in the direct courses, but I don’t and a lot of people I know in the program don’t either. Aside from the direct courses, the program is very independent, but overseen by homeroom teachers. Actually, even the direct courses are pretty independent.
Doesn’t My Tech Have Homeroom Teachers?
The involvement of homeroom teachers, in my opinion, is very minimal. They read and respond to weekly learning logs, and receive required October count day submissions. Interaction is pretty limited to them usually giving some interesting facts and resources in response to the weekly learning logs. They also give encouraging feedback and show interest in what students are doing, but again the interaction is minimal.
The independence of this program is a huge part of the My Tech High appeal. It is the reason I chose to get involved with this program, as well as many others I know. The deal was, you choose your child’s schedule, submit a three to five sentence learning log every week, and a work sample for the October count day. They need to participate in their enrichment subjects every day. That’s it. That is what we were told was required.
What Happened with My Tech High in 2024?
December of 2023 brought the news that the Colorado Board of Education was looking into My Tech High’s homeschool enrichment program in Colorado. Here is the email sent to My Tech High families on December 14th.
Note the calm and confident nature of this announcement.
The on February 8th, My Tech High sent the following email and sounded the alarm, calling parents to action.
In my opinion, the email lacked professionalism and caused a lot of chaos. I felt like they were shifting responsibility to families to fight for their program. If the state of Colorado is doing something unlawful, as they claimed in the email, then My Tech should lawyer up and step up and fight. Instead they stirred up an emotional response. And let’s not forget that they let us know they would just shut down, effective immediately.
They also froze reimbursements, which is basically the only reason most people participate in My Tech High. It’s not some stellar type of program outside of the reimbursements. As of the time I am writing this, families are told they have to hold up their end of things still. We have to still submit learning logs, and apparently anything else My Tech decides to require (more on that in a minute). We can’t withdraw from the program without financial repercussions, even as reimbursements are still frozen.
Response from Colorado Homeschoolers
Soon confusion spread, even to other homeschool enrichment programs. Why is the Board changing the rules and trying to shut down enrichment programs?
Then a rumor started spreading that the BOE is specifically targeting My Tech High. How can they do that? It was all so confusing, right?
My Tech High and the Board of Education
Many parents responded to the call to action by sending emails and showing up to the Board of Education Meeting to testify. There were claims of homeschool freedom being under attack. If they can do this to My Tech, they can do this in other areas of homeschooling.
I did not do any of those things. When there isn’t a clear explanation of the issue at hand, I keep silent. You will never see me jump on bandwagons for the sake of loyalty to any organization, no matter how much I like their program.
During that meeting, the Board of Education provided some clarity. They did not intend to apply any new rules retroactively.
Where did this retroactive idea come from? People have asked My Tech and have not received an answer. During the public hearing, Matt Bowman made mention of it being due to confusion from his staff.
I hope no My Tech staff were injured by that bus they were thrown under.
The board has no jurisdiction over homeschoolers and isn’t looking at taking away any freedoms. There is no problem with homeschool enrichment programs in general.
So what is the issue? According to the BOE, the issue is with providing direct reimbursements for parent-led instruction. To my knowledge, My Tech High is the only program in Colorado that does this, that’s why the spotlight is on My Tech specifically.
Was My Tech High Violating Current Rules
This is THE question that it all boils down to. As you can probably guess the answer changes depending on who you ask. According to this statement from My Tech High, even the CDE was confused about the language of the rule.
I can see this part of the issue from both sides. IF the My Tech program was unlawful from the beginning, then why is this only coming up now? IF they were operating in a gray area or even exploiting a loophole as some have said, how is that My Tech High’s fault? Who was responsible for the loophole in the first place?
The other side is: Did My Tech High accurately represent their program? It seems right now they are working really hard to portray this as a teacher-led program. Why do that if they were in the right to begin with? Did the BOE know how the program operated and what the contracts were between My Tech High and their school partners?
As I mentioned earlier, the issue seems to be funding a parent-led program. But as far as I can tell, the BOE has not presented a clear rule that was violated. They mentioned that the legislature has voted on this type of program 18 times and it never passes.
I don’t think it really matters what the legislature has failed to do. The question remains: What rule existed that My Tech High may have violated? I still don’t have an answer for that.
Will My Tech Receive Funding?
During the February public hearing it was pretty clear to me that My Tech is probably not going to get funded. The BOE seems to be clearly leaning toward defunding the program. I will be shocked if My Tech High continues their Colorado program next year. Whether that is right or wrong really depends on the answers to the above questions.
The question now is whether or not the current year will be funded. Which leads to the work samples.
The Colorado Board of Education Work Sample Request
Here is where things get really interesting. On February 19th, My Tech sent this email:
Many experienced homeschoolers, myself included, immediately had red flags flying. What the heck!?!? The CDE can’t request work samples from homeschoolers! This is absolutely not allowed under the homeschool statute, even for homeschoolers participating in publicly funded enrichment programs.
Immediately people started contacting organizations like CHEC and HSLDA. I personally sent an email to Matt Bowman, the CEO of My Tech High. I have always heard that he is a good guy and very personable. The response I received didn’t address any of my concerns. It was a pre-written response. I know this because my sister received the same exact email when she tried to contact Matt Bowman too. Awkward.
Understanding the Homeschool Statute
Matt’s email does bring up what I think is a big part of the problem right now. It’s obvious in this email that there’s a lack of understanding of Colorado homeschool laws. There is no part-time homeschool enrollment in the state. The statute allows for participation in publicly funded programs and specifically allows for students to be counted for funding. What it doesn’t do is shift authority or reporting based on this participation. You are still a full-time homeschooler who is participating in a part-time enrichment program.
Here is where misunderstanding the statute comes into play with the work sample request. The homeschool statute is extremely clear on what records can be requested, by whom, and there is a procedure for making the request. There also has to be probable cause for the request to be made. No state entity is allowed to randomly demand any record from any homeschooler any time they want. Participation in publicly funded programs doesn’t change that.
The whole issue of the work sample request can be summarized as this: The Colorado Department of Education doesn’t have the authority or jurisdiction to ask for work samples from homeschool students. The statute doesn’t allow for it and doesn’t change based on participation in public school programs.
I did explain this to My Tech in response to a Facebook post. They ended up changing the post. Here is the before and after.
Questions About the Work Samples
Since My Tech High won’t answer direct questions about the work samples, many parents are seeking answers elsewhere.
Colorado Early Colleges is My Tech High’s largest partner school in the state. They have a vested interest in the program and the funding goes through them before it goes to My Tech.
I was given a copy of the following email between a My Tech parent and Colorado Early Colleges.
The answers to these questions actually leave me with more questions. But some of the main points I want to mention are:
- My Tech’s partners knew about the rule change in August, before count day and before any reimbursements were issued. They were concerned enough about the changes to request an audit.
- The audit that took place wasn’t a surprise. This was requested by My Tech’s partner school.
- Work samples are for proof of enrollment. Count day submissions and weekly learning logs are supposed to serve that purpose, so why is this extra one being requested?
- My Tech’s withdrawal policy states that we have to pay back reimbursements if we drop the program. I was operating under the assumption that My Tech paid these funds back to the state, but if it doesn’t go through the partner schools then I’m guessing that may not be the case. What happens to that money then? Does My Tech keep it? Is that really allowed?
This parent did send a follow up email asking a lot of the same questions I have. As of my writing this they have not received a response.
My Tech’s Portfolio of Work
I wanted to add in one last little piece of information. My Tech High is really trying to emphasize that they have always required a monthly portfolio of work. This may have been a line somewhere on their website, but it is questionable at best. I would argue that demanding a work portfolio is also not allowed under the homeschool statute.
My Tech High’s parent support team has actively told parents that they won’t ever be asked for a portfolio, or that they’ve never heard of anyone being asked for this. I was told this during the recruiting process (a Zoom video presentation) as were many others. I take issue with them acting like the portfolios have been a thing all along. They may have technically had this listed somewhere, but functionally this isn’t something that has been required.
Where Does My Tech High Stand Now?
Right now things from My Tech are very quiet. The work sample submission process was a fiasco and in my opinion very aggressive. Parents that chose to opt out of the submission due to concerns if it was a lawful request were told that their children would receive a zero on the submission and be ineligible for future reimbursements. You know, those reimbursements that they froze. Oh, but if we drop the program we will have to pay back anything received so far.
Is it fair that we are required to meet demands with no commitment from their side of things?
My Tech has been working quickly to re-word their website. They have made so many changes to their website, the program is now unrecognizable. If the program was described to me the way it is on the website now, I would have never signed up. I know many others that wouldn’t have either.
This begs the question though, if My Tech High wasn’t violating any rules, then why do you need to re-work the program to make it fit with what the BOE wants? If My Tech has been in compliance the whole time, why try to make the program appear differently now?
It seems that they are trying really hard to define My Tech’s program as teacher-led, and in my personal opinion based on the last few years with My Tech High, it just doesn’t fit. For them to now try to present the program as high teacher involvement or teacher-led seems…well you can decide.
My Final Thoughts on My Tech High
Let me make this clear. I don’t think that My Tech did anything illegal or violated any funding rules. The sole issue I have with My Tech is how they have handled this giant mess of a situation with the Board of Education. The lack of direct answers to families’ genuine concerns is unacceptable. A little transparency would go a long way here.
As much as I like programs like My Tech High and believe that homeschool students should have equal access to resources as any child in public school, I am so disappointed by the way My Tech has handled all of this.
Because My Tech agreed to and pushed the CDE’s request for work samples, this has fueled the arguments of organizations that actively fight against homeschoolers receiving public funding. My generation of homeschoolers fought for access to programs like these, and now it is like we are going back to the 80s with the cries of keep government out of our homeschools.
Hopefully Colorado homeschoolers won’t have to face the long term consequences of the aftermath of My Tech High’s program in Colorado. Only time will tell.