Virtual School Off to a Slow Start

Missouri’s new virtual school hasn’t taken off as quickly as expected:

Director Curt Fuchs had expected more than 5,000 full- and part-time students to enroll during the three-week registration period, requiring the state to use a lottery system to divvy up the seats. But as of Tuesday’s registration deadline, just 1,701 students had signed up.

As I discuss here, the virtual school would be more popular if it offered greater variety and responded to parents’ requests. Many of the parents who lobbied for online courses have middle-school students. This year, the Virtual Instruction Program won’t offer a single course at that level.

The strictly limited registration period also seems counterproductive, since one of the possible attractions of a virtual school is the flexibility it could afford.