Fl. Virtual School Enrollment Up at Least 50 Percent

The article below provides more evidence of the rapid growth in distance education. 

To proactively position itself for the changing educational market, Briarwood Christian School  is currently developing a distance learning pilot prototype.  The pilot will provide the needed data to assess what practices work and which do not, staff development requirements, infrastructure needs, formulation of a sustainable business plan, etc. 

Please share with our CSJ readers what your school leadership is doing to position your school for the changing educational marketplace.  Are you embracing distance learning or resisting it?  Have you added any distance learning courses?  What are the biggest challenges you face in moving forward with a distance learning program?

Click here to read the full article.

Funding Cuts Compel Florida Virtual School to Get By With Less
By The Associated Press

The Florida Virtual School is doing more with less under a new law that cut its funding while expanding online learning to every school district in the state.

A national leader in virtual education, the Orlando-based school has seen its budget reduced by nearly 10 percent with more cutting set for next year, while most other public schools in Florida have received a modest increase.

Enrollment, though, is expected to go up at least 50 percent. A small part of that is from expanding the school’s scope to include full-time virtual students from kindergarten through the 12th grade under contracts or franchise agreements with most of the state’s 67 school districts.

The bulk of the increase is coming from its customary role of providing dozens of supplementary online courses to middle and high school students enrolled in regular schools—a program now dubbed “Florida Virtual School Classic”—by operating as a statewide 68th school district.

“We’re not just coping, we’re embracing it,” said Sarah Sprinkel, the director of Florida services for the school….