The Virginian-Pilot has an article discussing a “virtual academy:”
K12 Inc., a private online education company that uses Carroll County as its public-school intermediary to provide virtual education through eighth grade for students across the state. More than 350 students are enrolled in K12’s virtual academy through Carroll County, three times as many as last year. All but four of those students live outside the county.
[…]
But because K12’s partnership is with Carroll, a relatively poor county, in some cases the state provides as much as $3,700 more per pupil in aid. Much of that goes to K12, a Herndon-based company that provides virtual education to children in 28 states and had a net income of $21.5 million last fiscal year, according to its annual report.
So the state is essentially paying a private company to provide education in this environment – and due to its partnering with a poor school district, the state is paying a premium for this.
Lots of questions, dear reader. First, should the state be providing resources to this? If so, why not to all private schools? And should the reimbursement be capped at, say, the average cost, rather than the higher state allocation to poor school systems? Finally, if no state resources should be provided, why not?
Inquiring minds want to know 😉
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
First, when anyone quotes raw numbers such as “a net income of $21.5M,” look twice. Yes, that is in the 2010 Annual Report. What the article does not say is that that number represents a profit margin of 5.6% (see page 83).
Second, a child is receiving an education for ONLY $5000?! The counties are paying nothing?! That’s about half-price. Expand the program!
Third, and last, YES, such aid should go to any private school, even home schools. We can educate the children for half the price, and not have to build more schools to accommodate more students. Where’s the down-side?
BTW, Fairfax average cost per pupil is over $12,000. Chesterfield, $8600.
I understand that this may, in rare cases, be the best or only option for a student, but really, virtual schooling? The online classes I have taken were a total joke. I hardly had to do any work to get an A and even then they were hardly intellectually stimulating.
America’s education system isn’t just failing, it’s already failed. That people think virtual instruction for grade school is actually a good use of tax dollars scares me. Buy the kid a few dozen books, have them read cover to cover, and give them a test. That alone would achieve better results than half the “programs” viewed as worthwhile.
Well as the article points out, the way this is setup now sort of undoes the Robin Hood funding system the state has. Some child from Fairfax could sign up for this and the state would give them more money than they give Fairfax per pupil. So, I think at a minimum, the state needs to change the reimbursement for students outside of Carroll County to match the funding the state gives the county they reside in per pupil.
As to whether we should be spending the money in the first place, I think that gets back to a larger question on what we are trying to achieve. And further, what is the role of the state versus the locality? My feeling is that the state needs to set universal standards and hold the localities to those. The localities should be free to do whatever they want to achieve those standards. If they are failing to do that, then the state can add its voice in trying to fix the problem.
You got to the core of what I read in the article: that the virtual school is gaming the system and costing Virginia taxpayers more money than it should. The reimbursement should not be based on the location of the partnership, in this case, Carroll County.
Perhaps, but it is costing the counties NOTHING. Since students from all counties can be in the program, it sounds like a wash to me.
Not nothing, some funding the school systems get is based on enrollment.
And if it is is reallocating funds in opposition to the state’s regular funding formula, then someone is paying for that. The state isn’t increasing educational spending to compensate.
and no one seemed to mention the enormous ROI and online courses (and virtual teacher training) that the Commonwealth already has with WHRO Public Media, a nonprofit serving the educational needs of the entire state, not just Hampton Roads