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MADISON - Eight hundred Wisconsin students could soon be looking for a new school after a court ruled Wisconsin Virtual Academy is breaking the law. Wisconsin Virtual Academy is an online school based in northern Ozaukee County. The students work from home on their own computers. An appellate court ruled Virtual Academy is not following state education guidelines. The court says Wisconsin Virtual Academy didn’t follow the law because many of the students and teachers do not live in the northern Ozaukee district. State guidelines say they have to. Now, Wisconsin Virtual Academy could be shut down by January 2nd, affecting 800 students, including 15-year-old Mary Cate Rindone. Mary Cate was struggling in a traditional classroom, but she is now an A student. "It’s kind of frustrating because finally I’m getting the grades I am capable of getting," Rindone said. Click on the link under related content to see an interview with Mary Cate Rindone. Many parents are concerned the ruling could soon affect other online schools and even prohibit classroom aides and parent volunteers who are not certified teachers. Virtual schools that enroll thousands of Wisconsin students could be shut down after a court ordered the state to stop funding its largest one, an advocacy group warned Wednesday. The ruling could result in school districts having to close their online charter schools in coming months and years, said Rose Fernandez, president of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families. The warning came after the District 2 Court of Appeals ruled the Wisconsin Virtual Academy was violating state law by allowing parents to assume the duties of state-licensed teachers. The court said the school also has been violating a law requiring charter schools to be located in the district that operates them. It ordered the Department of Public Instruction to stop shifting funding to the school from other districts where students live. The school will appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and ask for a stay so that it can remain open until the case is settled, principal Kurt Bergland said. Virtual schools allow students to learn over the Internet under the direction of their parents. Students from any district can enroll in them under Wisconsin's open enrollment policy. Supporters say they are more effective for some students, less expensive than traditional schools and popular with families who prefer to home-school their children. The schools are growing quickly across the country and in Wisconsin. But teachers' unions and other critics say the schools take away money from traditional ones and lack state oversight. Wednesday's ruling should prompt lawmakers to pass legislation making virtual schools "accountable to the students who use them and the taxpayers who fund them," said the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union. It filed suit in 2004 claiming the Wisconsin Virtual Academy violates the state's open-enrollment, charter school, and teacher licensing laws. State education officials also argued the school was violating the licensing requirements. A judge threw out the lawsuit last year. The Northern Ozaukee School District, which runs the school, announced plans to expand its online offerings by creating a virtual high school after that ruling. But the appeals court reversed the judge's decision, siding with the union on all three claims. Writing for a three-judge panel, Judge Richard Brown agreed the school may benefit children who would not succeed in traditional schools and provides another option for home-based education. "But it is also a public school operated with state funds, and its operation violates the statutes as they now stand," he wrote. Brown said parents are teaching without the state license required of all public school teachers. Even though they are not paid or employed by a district, they are acting as the school's primary teachers, he wrote. "The problem is not that the unlicensed WIVA parents teach their children, but that they 'teach in a public school,"' Brown wrote. He also said Northern Ozaukee is violating a law that prohibits districts from operating charter schools outside of their boundaries. The school's administrative office is in the district but the majority of its teachers and students are not, he wrote. Northern Ozaukee must stop receiving state funding for students attending the virtual school since they are not physically going to school in its district, he wrote. The money pays for the operation of the school and the district keeps an oversight fee. "It's a huge deal for thousands of parents and students," said attorney Mike Dean, who represents 13 of the school's 850 students. "If in fact children enrolled from outside the district are enrolled illegally, that will affect most, if not all, of the virtual schools in Wisconsin." Department of Public Instruction spokesman Patrick Gasper said the state was studying the ruling and he could not yet say whether schools were likely to be closed. The state has 12 virtual schools with about 3,000 students, he said. The district opened the Wisconsin Virtual Academy in 2003 to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The school requires parents to devote at least four hours per day to their child's education. Certified teachers who work for the district help monitor student progress. Fernandez, who has four children enrolled in the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, said the ruling left her and other parents in the dark. "I've been on the phone and e-mail all day with a number of parents who are just scared to death about what's going to happen," she said. "Many have kids who are thriving for the first time. This is a real kick in the teeth to us." Lucy Brown, a lawyer for the teacher's union, said the group has no plans to bring lawsuits seeking to close other virtual schools. "Hopefully the schools will bring themselves into compliance," she said. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)