The Hutchinson school district this week rolled out a new program that will make online school available to virtually any student within district boundaries – kindergarten through 12th grade – for the upcoming school year.
District officials hope the program will recapture students who have turned to outside online schools or home-school students who may desire a professional instructor for some subjects.
USD 308 is offering the new program through a partnership with Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, also known as the Greenbush education cooperative, which itself has partnered with national online content provider Edgenuity.
By participating in the program, the district is able to count the students it signs up as part of its annual student enrollment count, to receive base student aid.
It will take a minimum of seven or eight students signing up for the program for the district to break even, said USD 308 spokesman Ray Hemman. After that, the program will make “a small profit” for the district on each student.
District officials had no estimate on how many students they expect to sign up.
“We had 58 kids last year (living within the district boundaries) who attended virtual school somewhere else in the state of Kansas,” said District Superintendent Shelly Kiblinger. “They couldn’t attend 308 because we didn’t offer a virtual school. Now they have that option.”
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