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Texas districts poised to keep virtual school offerings after Senate gives its approval

School leaders had worried that the Legislature wouldn’t act soon enough to let them open online programs in the fall.

Texas school district leaders can continue planning virtual options for the fall after the Senate gave approval to a key piece of legislation Wednesday.

While hurdles remain before it becomes law, some administrators could breathe a sigh of relief that at least this bill wasn’t among the many doomed by procedural deadlines this week.

The legislation, which passed the Senate 27-4, would allow local districts to operate online schools that serve their own students and receive funding in the same manner as brick-and-mortar campuses.

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It arose after the COVID-19 pandemic showed that, while the vast majority of students do better when they can learn inside the classroom, some kids thrived in online school.

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“Some students and their families need the flexibility that a virtual learning environment offers,” said Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, as he guided discussion on the bill from the Senate floor.

The House still must sign off on changes made in the upper chamber before the bill can reach Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. The legislative session ends Monday.

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The legislation comes with guardrails. If students don’t perform well in the virtual environment, local officials can pull them back into the classroom. Only districts that receive a rating of C or better in the state’s academic accountability system can offer virtual courses. And teachers can’t be required to teach online and in-person at the same time, as they were often called upon to do during the pandemic.

“The idea of trying to teach a virtual classroom at the same time you’re teaching in-person — you’re asking someone to do an impossible task,” Taylor said.

North Texas district leaders had worried that the Legislature wouldn’t get to the bill in time, throwing into jeopardy plans to operate online schools in the fall.

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Frisco ISD, for example, had already announced its intention to open a new all-virtual school, contingent on legislative action. Dallas ISD plans to open a hybrid program in the fall. In Duncanville, officials said last week that they intended to open an online school for up to 200 juniors and seniors next school year.

Frisco Superintendent Mike Waldrip said he was “very pleased” to see the Senate take action. Roughly 900 students in his district have requested a virtual education next year, and more may follow if legislative action is finalized.

“We’ll need to see the final version of the bill to see exactly how we need to structure our programming,” he said. “We’re going to continue to move forward. We just want to make sure we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves before the bill is finalized.”

The Senate version was amended to expire in 2027, giving lawmakers the chance to reevaluate how the system is working after district leaders have had a few years to try it out.

The legislation initially sought to cap online enrollment at 10% of a district’s population, but an amendment raised it to a quarter. Students in a virtual school would still be allowed to participate in University Interscholastic League activities.

Under current state law, only districts or charters that operated an online program before 2013 are authorized to run full-time virtual schools and qualify for complete funding. The state has seven such programs operating in what’s known as the Texas Virtual School Network, and students from all over the state can enroll.

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This bill would not change regulations related to the statewide network.

Education Commissioner Mike Morath waived the rules in response to the COVID-19 shutdowns, but his action is set to expire at the end of the current school year. It was up to the Legislature to determine what virtual education should look like in the long term.

“This doesn’t require any school district to do this. This is a local option,” Taylor said. “We tried to not pass one law that everyone has to do one way.”

Some districts have no interest in continuing to educate kids online. McKinney ISD announced recently that it did not plan to offer any virtual options next year because leaders believe “strongly in face-to-face instruction between students and teachers.”

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Some remain skeptical of expanding virtual education, which failed for so many children during the pandemic.

Students who attended virtual charters lost the equivalent of an entire school year in math education and about a semester in reading, according to a national study in 2015 by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University.

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The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.