With many states continuing to struggle with COVID-19 cases, governments and school districts are increasingly leaning into full-time online and hybrid models to start the school year. While states and traditional public school districts scramble to prepare staff and students for online learning, many families are searching for alternatives.
Some parents need their kids in brick-and-mortar schools and are looking at charter and private schools. Others, after having bad experiences with their public schools struggling to transition to online learning last spring, are seeking better online options.
Virtual education has been growing in the United States for over two decades. During the 2014-2015 school year, U.S. students enrolled in an estimated 8 million K-12 online courses. Virtual education programs include state-operated virtual programs such as the Florida Virtual School, school district-operated virtual classes such as those administered by 90 percent of school districts in Kentucky, and virtual charter schools, which are especially popular in Arizona.
Unlike the haphazard remote learning that school districts rushed together in the spring, these education programs are designed specifically for the virtual setting. But many families are discovering their virtual schooling options are being limited by governments.
This is because virtual education is heavily regulated and restricted in most states. Twenty-three states have laws preventing the existence of virtual charter schools, and another six states limit the number of virtual schools that can be established. Eleven states place caps on total student enrollment in virtual schools.
Some enrollment policies also inhibit students’ access to virtual education based on the school district they reside in. For example, Tennessee says no more than 25% of enrollment in a school district’s virtual program can come from kids living outside of that district. Oregon school districts may deny resident students from attending virtual charter schools if over 3% of their school district’s students already attend virtual charter schools in other districts.
Arizona, Georgia, and Indiana all pay their district-run virtual schools or charter virtual schools a smaller percentage of the general per-pupil funding than they do traditional schools. Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio have similar policies.
These types of government restrictions and funding inequities are unfair and arbitrary.
Virtual schools have lower costs for transportation and facilities compared to most brick-and-mortar institutions, but unequal funding policies function as a barrier to new virtual options entering the education market.
Before the pandemic, families had a multitude of reasons for choosing virtual education, such as wanting to enroll in classes not offered by their school district, graduating early, escaping harmful social situations, and many others.
The government should never stop families from choosing virtual education, pandemic or otherwise. States should lift barriers such as limits on establishing virtual charter schools, enrollment caps, and providing unequal funding.
In addition, the pandemic has revealed opportunities for states and school districts to consider how to provide more and better quality virtual education options.
To start, states and school districts could arrange partnerships with private and nonprofit virtual education providers to utilize programs already designed for the virtual setting. For example, Alaska is opening its own statewide virtual school this fall in partnership with the well-established Florida Virtual School. Three districts in Georgia are contracting with the virtual education company Edgenuity to open virtual schools this fall. States should ensure their laws allow for innovations like these.
Additionally, states and school districts not offering full-time in-person learning could consider repurposing funding that is typically used for in-person programs to cover the price of contracts with virtual education providers.
Most students will be learning online in some capacity this fall, and it is unclear when they will be able to return to traditional classrooms. States should change their restrictive virtual education policies and allow for greater innovation and options to prevent students from falling further behind. Furthermore, the demand for virtual education will likely intensify even after the pandemic, so states and school districts should prepare to meet families’ needs for years to come.
Julia Westwick is an education policy intern with Reason Foundation and is studying economics and public policy at Trinity University (class of 2021).
