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Beginning in August, the district will implement a new eSchool virtual learning program,

so that students may take online courses using their home computers. In conjunction with this,

the School Board has established the eSchool Advisory Committee to study the current program,

make recommendation for improvements and course offerings, and lay the groundwork for long-

term planning and development. A standard course costs around $420, and will take a student 12

weeks to complete.

This eSchool program is part of a larger, statewide initiative, designed to determine how

the state government should fund online education. eSchool has been more popular than we

ever imagined, technology director Jim Henchy said. Our district is currently paying for all the

technology and other instructor costs but we expect it to one day be a moneymaker for the

district.

State officials are using this early initiative as a dry run, to gauge the scope of a statewide

Virtual School program. We hope the pilot will provide us with some good information about

how well the courses themselves work and how to deal with the funding issues, Texas

Education Agency Spokeswoman Debbie Bryant said. Providing money for online schools will

require a change in state law since the state only gives aid to districts for students who are

physically present in schools.

Many administrators are hopeful this initiative will pay off in the long run, as it will

allow the school to reach a greater number of students than was previously possible. Students

from neighboring school districts have heard about our eSchool program and some are registered

for this semester, counselor Earl Dishman said. We expect about 20 students from Heritage

School District to take the online physics course and five students from Coleman School District

are planning to take the Spanish class. Students are limited to two courses each semester and two
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in the summer so most are using the convenience to pad their high school class schedules, catch

up on summer school courses, or for home school enrichment.

The feedback, so far, has been largely positive. We have had so many wonderful

responses from students about the course, chairperson of the eSchool Advisory Committee

Cindy Beckham said. We had requests for nine new courses parents and students wanted us to

offer this summer and we had a hard time deciding on just three. We expect the eSchool to grow

each semester with more course offerings.