Districts add online schools after post-pandemic enrollment spike

The number of Idaho students enrolled in online schools, both through their traditional public school districts and at online charter schools, has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s not just the number of students enrolled that has grown. Since the 2020-21 school year, 15 school districts have added an online school, according to data obtained by EdNews. Both rural and urban districts offer online options.

Last year, more than 19,800, or 6%, of Idaho’s 314,596 total students were enrolled in online schools.

School districts, the latest being West Bonner, are adding online schools in hopes of getting homeschool families to re-enroll in the district and meet the increasing demand for alternative educational pathways.

West Bonner hopes to reach homeschool families with online school

This fall, two districts are adding an online option, Avery and West Bonner. Their online schools are essentially a homeschool hybrid option in partnership with Overture, an Idaho-based home learning company.

Most online schools in Idaho are largely operated by a private company, paid by the school district. Many of the programs also offer financial support to families to pay for curriculum and supplies.

West Bonner School District in Priest River has struggled in recent years with high leadership turnover, failed levies and financial problems. Adding an online school, called the Home Learning Network (HLN), will be a way to bridge the divide between homeschool families and the district, said Kristina Kenny, special education director at West Bonner.

“We have a very large and strong homeschool population and (we are) figuring out ways that we can do better at partnering with them and supporting them, because we are called to educate all students,” Kenny said. “I think that’s just one way that we can improve as a district.”

Families will have access to an assigned teacher who works for the district who evaluates their work and students are required to take state standardized tests. Students also have access to daily live instruction in math and phonics. However, their parent at home oversees most of their learning.

Through Overture, the district will offer monthly field trips and potentially in-person enrichment activities like STEM projects or cooking lessons, Kenny said.

So far, HLN has 95 students enrolled in grades K-8. Kenny hopes to reach 100 by September.

Kenny noted that while the district must evaluate homeschool students to see if they qualify for special education services, they don’t have to provide those services unless students are enrolled in the district. Students at HLN who qualify for special education services will get them virtually, Kenny said.

HLN is part of West Bonner’s Innovate Academy initiative that Kenny hopes will house a work-based learning program for high schoolers and an online high school. West Bonner leaders are piloting the online high school — separate from the K-8 school — this year in partnership with another private company, Edmentum.

It’s not uncommon for districts to have multiple online schools targeting different grade levels.

High schools have increased accreditation requirements than grade schools, leading many districts to opt out of offering online options at the secondary level. The state also provides courses through the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance (IDLA) for high schoolers, which many districts already use, reducing the need for districts to open their own online school.

Traditional districts open online schools post-pandemic

The number of school districts offering an online school option spiked after the pandemic and has continued to grow since.

There were just three online schools at traditional school districts before the pandemic.

Six new online schools opened in the fall of 2020 with three more the following school year. In total, 15 new online schools have opened at traditional school districts since 2020. At a traditional school district, an online school opening is similar to opening a new physical school, including state paperwork and reporting requirements.

As the number of districts offering their own online schools has grown, so has enrollment. The COVID-19 pandemic created an increased demand for online schooling in both traditional and charter schools.

Charter schools increase enrollment but not schools

The number of online charters schools has grown since the first opened in 2002. Two additional online charter schools opened in 2019 but none have opened since the pandemic, despite enrollment spiking post-COVID.

Just one local school district authorizes its own charter online school, Oneida. Authorizing a charter school is different than simply opening a new district school. A charter school operates independently of other schools in a school district, almost as its own sub-school district.

The Idaho Home Learning Academy, in Oneida, is the largest online school in the state with over 7,800 students enrolled last year. The school became a charter ahead of the 2024-25 school year. Before that, it was a part of the Oneida district.

IHLA has been controversial for years.

The school had systemic issues with its’ special education program, according to an investigation report from the Idaho Department of Education, which EdNews first reported last year.

IHLA and Oneida were questioned by legislators earlier this year over the $1,800 in education savings account per student given to families. The school also faced scrutiny over low test scores. Just over 53% of K-3 students at IHLA were reading at grade level this Spring, according to Idaho Reading Indicator test results.

However, online charter schools outside of Oneida continue to be popular, data shows.