Virtual school programs are an alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Most of the state-run virtual school programs we identified still allowed local districts to operate virtual school programs, but we could not compare student outcomes or expenditures between states. In Kansas, local school districts operate virtual school programs. 105 school districts out of the 286 Kansas school districts spent at least $50 million on virtual school programs in the 2020-21 school year. We reviewed 4 state-run models, 3 of which also offered district operated virtual school programs like Kansas. A lack of data limited our comparison of other states' virtual school program expenditures and outcomes. Data reliability issues prevented us from evaluating outcomes for virtual students in Kansas.
Virtual school programs are an alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Most of the state-run virtual school programs we identified still allowed local districts to operate virtual school programs, but we could not compare student outcomes or expenditures between states. In Kansas, local school districts operate virtual school programs. 105 school districts out of the 286 Kansas school districts spent at least $50 million on virtual school programs in the 2020-21 school year. We reviewed 4 state-run models, 3 of which also offered district operated virtual school programs like Kansas. A lack of data limited our comparison of other states' virtual school program expenditures and outcomes. Data reliability issues prevented us from evaluating outcomes for virtual students in Kansas.
Welcome to the rundown, your source for the latest news and updates from the Kansas legislative division of post audit, featuring LPA staff talking about recently released audit reports and discussing their main findings key takeaways and why it matters. I'm Mor Exline in September, 2022, legislative post audit released a performance audit that evaluated virtual school expenditures and outcomes in Kansas and how they compared to other states. I'm with Macy Smith, senior auditor at legislative post audit, who supervised the audit Macy. Welcome to the rundown.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:So to get started, can you gimme some background about what virtual school means and what brought about this audit?
Speaker 2:That is a really great question because this topic seems so relevant in light of the changes that came about because of the COVID 19 pandemic and the students needing to be online for class. However, this audit is not about that. It was one of several education audits that was required by law, and it was written into law before the pandemic. So this audit looks at virtual school programs. Virtual school programs have been around for at least two decades in Kansas. They were first authorized in 1998. And students in virtual school programs receive their education online and at a time and place that works for them. The teachers are set up to teach in a virtual school. The online platforms used by these schools already existed. And just to help clarify a little more, when we talk about online learning due to the pandemic that is called remote learning school districts used remote learning as a solution to the brick and mortar schools, closing teachers and students logged in online for class at a specific time, instead of being in person or in a classroom, this was temporary and is not the same as virtual school programs. Now this audit talks about virtual school programs, but more specifically, we were asked to look at state run virtual schools in other states. Now a state run virtual school program is authorized by the state. It is managed by a state or state authorized department, receives state funds and offers full and part-time online public education options for any student in the state. Our audit was also an attempt to compare the expenditures and outcomes of those state run virtual school programs to the Kansas model.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned the Kansas model. What model does Kansas use and are there other models that are used to operate virtual school
Speaker 2:At a very high level? There are three models of virtual school programs. Now I've talked about the state run model already. Then there is also a model that uses charter schools. And third, there is the district run model. The district run model is what Kansas uses that means in Kansas local school districts are able to open and operate their own virtual school. So basically the school districts are in the driver's seat, but they do have to get approval from the Kansas department of education. Before starting a virtual school program, the school districts do get to decide how their programs look and how they are run. They choose what curriculum to use and what grade levels they serve. They can also partner with other districts or contract with service centers like Greenbush or Orion to run their program. I'd also like to mention here that states can allow more than one of these models to exist. Just because a school district is in a state with a state run model doesn't mean that they don't have other virtual school program offerings. And we found that to be the case. We looked at four different state run programs. And so, you know, the states we looked at were Florida, North Dakota, Vermont and Virginia in Florida, North Dakota and Virginia districts are allowed to operate their own virtual school programs like Kansas.
Speaker 1:How are virtual schools in Kansas funded? And where does that money go
Speaker 2:In Kansas virtual school funding is based on a per student model. There are different amounts that school districts received based on whether or not the student is full-time part-time or an adult taking a virtual high school diploma program. And you can find those amounts in a more detailed explanation. In our report, each of the state run programs we looked at were funded in different ways. Florida was the most similar to Kansas. Then North Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia receive allocations from the state, but those don't cover the full cost of the program. So each of those states have other funding sources, like course fees. Vermont actually operates a cooperative model where their local district share teachers with the virtual program. And that helps reduce costs. Then you had asked about where that money was spent in Kansas. The majority of virtual school funding went toward contracted services like online virtual school curriculum or payments to the educational service providers who run the virtual school programs for the district. That amount was about 57% of the at least 50 million school district spent on virtual school programs. Another 37% of that 50 million went toward teachers and support staff. And about 4% of the virtual school expenditures went toward technology or supplies in the state run virtual school programs. We looked at teaching and support staff expenditures made up most of the virtual school spendings, not contracted services like Kansas.
Speaker 1:Okay. So you mentioned some other states. How does the virtual school system in Kansas compare to virtual school systems in those other states?
Speaker 2:You know, we actually were not able to do a whole lot of comparison work because of data limitations, which I will explain those in a minute, but I wanted to touch on what we could compare. I mentioned the differences in expenditures just a moment ago. And we also found that in Kansas, most of the virtual school students funded by the state were full full-time students. Whereas in the other states, most of the students who were enrolled in the virtual school programs were part-time students. So about those data limitations, I mentioned, one of the biggest barriers we encountered was that those other states we talked with are not required to provide us information or data. So the data we did receive was basically already reported out. We did not get raw data, so we could not compensate for differences as an example, one way to provide context and meaning to expenditures by each state is to break that down on a per student basis. And not only that, but there are many students taking courses part-time or they only take one or two courses. So there was additional data we needed to kind of make that equal among the states. The states we talked to either did not provide us that information, or didn't even have that information because they aren't funded by their states in a way that requires it. Another barrier was that student outcome data was not available in North Dakota, Vermont and Virginia virtual student outcome data could not be separated from other brick and mortar students. So we could not isolate the performance of virtual students in those states.
Speaker 1:So finally, what was the biggest takeaway from this audit?
Speaker 2:The way virtual schools are set up and administered is nuanced and there is great variety between them. So as you try to compare them, you have to be careful, especially when data is limited. You have to make sure you aren't comparing apples to oranges.
Speaker 1:Macy Smith is a senior auditor at legislative post audit. She supervised an audit that evaluated virtual school expenditures and outcomes in Kansas and how they compared to other states. Macy, thanks for visiting the rundown and discussing this audit's findings with me.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
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