In August, students who cannot attend Santa Rosa County schools in a regular classroom have a new option to receive credits. The school district has a new option - the Virtual School - it can offer to receive funding for more students from the state.

Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Bill Price says the Virtual School option will be ready for the next school year.

"The state mandated last year that we begin working on virtual schooling for kindergarten through 12th grade," Price said. "We have to have it in place by the beginning of this next school year. For the high school component, we will use Florida Virtual High School at a cost of $39.95 per student. The statute says we have to offer this to students free of charge. But we will then be able to claim those students in our head count for state funding."

Price said for the K-8 program the district will purchase the program and run its own Virtual School program.

"We will share the same franchise manager that Okaloosa County is using. They have been running their Virtual School for more than a year now, so they know what they are doing," Price said.

Virtual School is an alternative for students expelled or suspended instead of going to the Learning Academy or using home- schooling. Price said there are 19 students already using the Virtual School program, but beginning next year the district can claim those students in head count. There also are 800 students in the county participating in homeschooling right now.

"The statute says to get credit for the students they must have attended a public school the year before they use Virtual Schooling. So any of the homeschoolers who were not in our schools last year would need to take advantage of the program for one year before they could officially be counted as part of our program," Price said.

Other counties using Virtual School already have found it is a good tool to recruit dropouts to complete their degrees.

WHAT IS A 'VIRTUAL SCHOOL?'

Virtual School allows students to sit at home with their computers — or in a restaurant, hospital, or visiting relatives anywhere in the world — and receive the same teaching by a real teacher as students sitting in the real classroom.

When Santa Rosa County Schools begin offering Virtual School next year, students using the program will log onto their computers and see a real live Santa Rosa County teacher teaching the course work for their grade level exactly as it was taught in one of the classrooms in the district. It will be taped, so the student can log onto the class at any time day or night any day — not just when the course is being taught. The program will be offered free to students who cannot attend regular classes for any reason — whether it is for health reasons, or being expelled or suspended. Homeschoolers can also access the program.