Virtual learning growing in Wisconsin, school leaders say

After eight hours of training at the Milwaukee Ballet Academy, Cecilia Smucker logs onto her laptop for four hours of online learning through Milwaukee Virtual School.

Cecilia, a high school senior, has her sights set on becoming a professional dancer. In between rehearsals for an upcoming performance, she said her rigorous training schedule leaves little room for a traditional school day.

“It just wouldn’t be possible for me to balance being there physically,” Cecilia said. “Virtual school is the way for me to pursue an education while also pursuing a career in dance.”

Cecilia is one of about 13,500 students attending a virtual charter school in Wisconsin, according to the most recent data available. Enrollment hasn’t returned to its 2020-21 pandemic peak, when more than 16,000 students were enrolled, but demand for virtual learning remains. Last school year’s enrollment across the state’s 58 virtual charter schools was 55% higher than in 2019-20.

Milwaukee Public Schools opened Milwaukee Virtual School this school year, redesignating the district’s pandemic-era online program as its own charter school for kindergarten through 12th grade students. About 1,050 students, most of them high schoolers, attend the school, said Principal William Luedtke.

“There is increased competition to have virtual programs. They’re popping up all over the state,” Luedtke said. “There is a large proportion of students in our program who just would not remain part of Milwaukee Public Schools if they didn’t have a virtual option.”

Students who choose to attend school online typically have unique life circumstances, school administrators said. Some, like Smucker, are training or traveling for competitive sports. Others have disabilities, must stay home to take care of ailing family members or work jobs that make a traditional school schedule difficult to manage.

Almost all are seeking more flexibility than what’s offered at in-person schools, said Charles Heckel, policy and finance administrator of Rural Virtual Academy. The school out of the Medford Area Public School District enrolled about 2,260 students last school year, making it the largest virtual charter school in Wisconsin.

“So many families want more flexibility in their lives, and they want more individualized educational options,” Heckel said. “With families and parents being able to work from home and work remote, we’ve seen the demographics of the kids that are enrolled in our school also mirror that.”

Sarah Scovell Muraski, administrator of Kiel eSchool and Between the Lakes Academy, said public schools are increasingly requiring high school students to take at least one online course. That’s the case in the Kiel Area School District, which oversees both Kiel and Between the Lakes.

Muraski said some school districts send students to Kiel and Between the Lakes to attend classes they aren’t able to staff or for electives not offered in person. The two schools, which primarily offer asynchronous instruction, added about 80 full-time students this school year and hired additional staff to accommodate the growth.

Jennifer Owen, a teacher at the schools, said online education has its critics, including those who say virtual learning is an easy way for students to graduate. But she said students quickly realize they must put in the effort to avoid falling behind.

“There’s nothing easy about it,” Muraski said. “You have to do the work, you have to prove the mastery, and you have to put in the time.”

For Cecilia, virtual school requires discipline and time management, her parents said.

“It can be very stressful,” said her dad Glenn. “It requires the whole family joining together, and it does require a very special kind of person.”

Virtual options growing beyond public school districts

The total number of students attending virtual schools is even higher when accounting for private schools that accept publicly funded vouchers for students in school choice programs. But voucher schools aren’t required to report such data to the state, said Chris Bucher, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

A 2020 ruling allowed voucher schools to use virtual learning to meet their state-mandated instructional hours. One voucher school, Academy of Excellence in Milwaukee, quickly recruited thousands of students with the promise of a free online education.

About three-quarters of the school’s 3,800 students were virtual last school year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The school’s enrollment rose to the equivalent of more than 4,400 full-time students this school year, according to state data.

State taxpayers will pay the school over $50 million this school year, the DPI estimated. A previous Journal Sentinel investigation raised questions about school’s programming and found the school paid millions of dollars to companies controlled by relatives of the school’s founder, Randy Melchert.

As online instruction has become more common, the DPI has advocated for laws that would tighten regulations for voucher schools that offer virtual learning, Bucher said.

“As the law stands right now, there are no requirements for private choice schools related specifically for virtual instruction,” he said.

Online learning becoming the norm

As virtual charter and voucher schools grow and as technology advances, Luedtke, the Milwaukee Virtual School principal, foresees online education becoming more part of the traditional school experience.

“I do see the potential to move towards more of a hybrid model where students are virtual for a portion of the day and still able to get some in-person instruction, depending on where their areas of interest are,” Luedtke said.

Cecilia’s mom, Vernande, said such a model would allow more students to pursue opportunities beyond what the traditional school model offers.

“I find this program very important and very useful for young people who want to make a difference in their life or for those who have a dream,” she said. “They can do two activities at the same time. It is a good opportunity for young students to go far in their dreams.”

Kayla Huynh covers K-12 education, teachers and solutions at the Journal Sentinel. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X at @_kaylahuynh. All of her work and coverage decisions are overseen solely by Journal Sentinel editors. Kayla’s position receives support from Kohl Philanthropies and contributions to the Community-Funded Journalism Project. Help continue this reporting with a tax-deductible donation at jsonline.com/support.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Virtual learning growing in Wisconsin, school leaders say

Reporting by Kayla Huynh, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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