I see a “year-over-year” increase in members of our legislature who will support eLearningi [0] in the critical areas that support disruptive innovation. There is commitment to: supplementing classroom instruction with online resources, pioneering one-to-one laptop programs, portals where parents can check out their student’s data and adopting a range of podcasts and Web 2.0 sources of content.

But first there is a committed to another very difficult task. Our state budget has $billons of dollars in deficits over the couple of years. Education is over half of the budget and there is sparse support for any funding in new areas.

Individually paced mastery model eLearning implementation for all students is expected to generate major effect on Arizona’s budget. Increases in learning will increase high school graduation and ten years later reduction in prison population. Increase in college educated students will expand Arizona’s economy with quality job holders.

Increased speed of learning will change K12 to PK 10. Online learning will allow anywhere learning reducing school construction and operating costs. The cost of digital curriculum will at first equal cost of books then continue to reduce as volume grows and the open source networks deliver learning objects. Schools buying broadbandi [0] internet connectivity will bring this commerce driver to every hamlet in Arizona.

The problem is that Arizona had a great start in the late 1990’s by buying one computer for eight students and wiring our schools. Almost immediately this initiative faltered, the computers got old and broadband struggled to connect to the in school wiring.

Ten years later Arizona’s K-12 spending is approximately half a $billion more for legacy education, than with higher effectiveness eLearning.

So what do we do now? We must do two things. Education laws must be made much more flexible to support the wide range of cost saving and learning improving and increasing attributes of eLearning. Small but critical new funding for statewide infrastructure development: data system, online support of teacher professional development and student learning, and broadband extended to underserved communities.

This will give effective support to disrupting innovators. When the economy turns Arizona will be at the tipping point of 5% adoption (50,000 eLearning equivalent students). The incumbents can then pick up the ball and carry eLearning to the other 95%.