Breakthrough in Funding State Virtual Schools

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Breakthrough in Funding State Virtual Schools

• Julie E. Young
• Executive Director
• SREB Annual Cooperative Meeting
• September 26, 2003

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Florida Virtual School (FLVS) Floridas
Premier Online Public School

• What makes FLVS Unique?
• Publicly funded free to all students in the
  state of Florida
• Instructor lead high level of interaction
  between teachers and students
• Flexibility students move at their own pace.
  Pace charts are in every course to
  help students meet their goals
• Student success for the past two school years,
  FLVS has
  achieved a completion rate of 87 or better

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What Makes FLVS Unique?

• Accountability measures
• Developed by Florida certified teachers
• Curriculum built on (not just correlated to) FL
  Sunshine State Standards
• Aligned to National Standards
• Working toward ADA compliance
• Now part of Floridas FEFP
• Groundbreaking funding for performance model
• Leverages the flexibility inherent in virtual
  learning

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Who Are Our Students?
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Access Statute Highlights

• FLVS is a choice available to all Florida
  students/parents
• Parents will be notified of this choice and the
  inherent benefits such as accelerated learning
• School districts may not limit student access to
  courses offered through FLVS
• Access shall be made available to students during
  or after the normal school day, and through
  summer school enrollment
• Schools will adopt policies to encourage FLVS
  attendance to help with class size reduction

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Funding Statute Highlights

• FLVS funding will be provided as follows
• A "full-time equivalent student" (FTE) for FLVS
  is one student who has successfully completed 6
  credits that shall count toward the minimum
  number of credits required for high school
  graduation
• A student who completes less than six credits
  shall be a fraction of an FTE student.
• Half credit completions shall be included in
  determining an FTE student
• Credit completed by a student in excess of the
  minimum required for that student for high school
  graduation is not eligible for funding.

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Funding Statute Highlights

• FLVS funding will be provided as follows
• FTE student credit completed through the FLVS,
  including credits completed during the summer,
  shall be reported to the DOE in the manner
  prescribed by the department and shall be funded
  through the FEFP
• School districts may not limit student access to
  courses offered through FLVS
• FTE student credit completion for courses offered
  through FLVS shall be reported only by FLVS.
• School districts shall report full-time
  equivalent student membership only for courses
  for which the district provides the instruction.

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New Funding Model Benefits

• Student centered
• Recognizes the flexibility inherent in distance
  learning
• Supports future growth of FLVS
• Permanency
• Efficient use of tax dollars no fixed capital
  outlay

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New Funding Model Challenges

• New standard of accountability
• Managing growth while maintaining quality
• Full-filling the demand
• Enrollment and budget management

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Funding Issues
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Funding Issues
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FLVS FTE Completions
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FLVS Cost Per Credit Completion
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New Model New Opportunities for Students
Projected enrollments
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FLVS Growth Management Tools

• Mentoring Programs
• Aligning new instructors with a seasoned
  instructor as a support system to help to
  acclimate them into the virtual school culture
  and assure success
• Shared Shells
• Pairing up new part-time instructors with a
  full-time instructor within a shared shell
  (course)
• Staffing Model
• Maintaining an appropriate full-time to adjunct
  instructor ratio to assure quality customer
  service

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Florida Virtual School

• where every student has a front row seat

http//www.flvs.net