State legislators reached a bipartisan compromise Thursday on the fate of virtual K-12 schools in Wisconsin Thursday.

A Wisconsin appeals court had ruled in early December a virtual school violated state laws in regards to open enrollment and teacher permits.

Advocates of the schools said they were worried the schools, which teach around 3500 students, would be shut down statewide because of the ruling.

Sara Dauscher, spokesperson for state Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said Lehman wanted to keep the schools open and keep them accountable to parents and taxpayers.

The bill would legalize virtual schools and require them to have parental advisory boards. It would also create an online academy operated by the state Department of Public Instruction, define truancy for the schools and outline several other compromises.

Dauscher said Lehman expects the Senate version of the bill to pass out of the Education Committee as early as next week. She also said legislators’ opinions on the issue had been largely favorable in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Families using virtual schools are “very supportive of the bill,” according to Dauscher.

She said the bill would not affect universities and colleges, which also use online learning in some situations.

State Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, chair of the Republican-controlled Assembly Education Committee, authored the legislation along with Lehman. He said he hoped to pass the bill out of the committee by Tuesday.

Davis said the bill required no additional funding, and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, supported the compromise and had been engaged in the process.

“I don’t expect any issues with Assembly Republicans as we move forward,” Davis said.

Gov. Jim Doyle tentatively endorsed the compromise, according to Davis, who said he was expecting the governor to sign the bill.