A state district court has put the kibosh on the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, charging that it violates state law by using parents as teachers.

Some parents say they don't know what they will do next school year if the ruling is not reversed. One person quoted in the Green Bay Gazette article says that the concern is "not ideological."

But an op-ed on the tussle in the New York Sun lays bare the power struggle involved:

The Wisconsin Virtual Academy has grown in its four years to about 850 students, all there by choice. The online public charter school gets good results on state tests, equivalent to small-town districts from which it draws students. Parents rave about it.

So, naturally, the state's biggest teachers union got a court to order it closed. If you wonder why, that just shows what you don't know about schools, you amateur.

Nearly all the students -- 92 percent -- score proficient or better on state tests. That's amazing. But in a world focused on inputs and credentials rather than results, the ruling is not that surprising. But as WisPolitics.com says, Kids Lose. It points out that one of the claims issued by the teachers union is that parents of virtual school kids are lacking in "moral character." Chew on that one for a while, folks.

The state's largest newspaper is based in Milwaukee, home to one of the nation's leading experiments in school choice. Perhaps that's why it has called on the Legislature to fix this mess .