Cyber Schools’ Status

As the popularity of virtual schools grows, the funding models for state-sponsored efforts differ across the country.

Riding the wave of online learning’s increasing popularity, 22 states have established virtual schools, and more may be on the way.

Legislatures from the Deep South to the Great Plains, encouraged by the relatively low cost of these online programs and their promise of “anytime, anywhere” learning, have paid to start many of the schools in the past few years.

“An increasing number of high-level policymakers are making the connection between virtual learning and school reform, economic development, and equity of access,” says William R. Thomas, the educational technology director of the Southern Regional Education Board, an Atlanta-based group that seeks to improve education in 16 Southern states. “State virtual schooling is going to become an established, institutionalized way to meet a variety of student needs in...