Dive Brief:

• When comparing the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School in New Hampshire to Ohio’s Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, perhaps the most striking difference is how VLACS gets paid.
• The Plain Dealer reports the nonprofit school gets paid $5,600 per full-time student, but only those who pass their classes, and the for-profit ECOT gets $6,000 per student based only on enrollment.
• The vast majority of VLACS’ 12,000 students attend part time, and the state pro-rates the per-student payment based on how many units they pass — CEO and founder Steve Kossakoski says the students who progress faster balance out those who take a long time or don’t finish their units. 

Dive Insight:

Charter schools, in general, and virtual schools, specifically, operate in vastly different ways throughout the country based on what legislatures and state boards of education have allowed. Ohio’s virtual school is battling the state over the $108 million it received in state funding, arguing the state changed its rules mid-year by requiring the school to verify actual student participation. Since it opened, it could simply offer a range of courses and if students enrolled but didn’t take advantage of them, it could still get paid. The model in New Hampshire is obviously very different.

Some states have allowed for-profit operators to open charter schools while others have accepted proposals from nonprofit boards only. Some, like Michigan, incentivize charter school authorizers (public school districts, colleges and universities) to approve charter proposals by giving them a cut of state funding the school collects. Minnesota, meanwhile, is the only state that lets a teachers’ union serve as an authorizer. In many ways, states get what they allow.