The Arkansas Charter Authorizing Panel on Tuesday endorsed proposals to establish two statewide virtual schools, one for high school students and the other for kindergarten through 12th grades.
Both of the proposals are subject to final approval by the Arkansas Board of Education as soon as next month for starting in August.
The two proposed schools would be additions to two already existing charter systems in Arkansas that are sponsored by the Responsive Education Solutions, a charter management organization based in Texas.
The panel voted in support of the Founders Classical Academy plan to open a virtual or online school that would grow to as many as 500 kindergarten- through-12th grade students over three years.
The Founders charter system has existing, traditional building campuses in Bentonville, enrollment 956, and Little Rock, enrollment 135. with a third campus to open later this year in Rogers. With the request for the virtual school addition, the Founders Classical Academy is also asking for an increase in the system’s overall 2,500-student enrollment cap to 3,000 students.
Premier High Schools of Arkansas — with existing or soon-to-open campuses in Little Rock, Fort Smith and Texarkana — received preliminary approval Tuesday for a virtual high school that would serve up to 250 high school students. Premier High Schools are considered second-chance schools for students who were not successful in traditional high schools for a variety of reasons.
The Premier system is asking for a 250-student increase in the enrollment cap to accommodate the virtual school — from 625 to 875 students.
If approved by the state, the two proposed virtual schools would be the fourth and fifth online schools in the state. Arkansas Virtual Academy, Arkansas Connections Academy and the LISA Academy Arkansas Hybrid School are already in operation. The LISA Hybrid school offers a mix of virtual instruction but requires students to be on-site for a half day every other week for intervention and enrichment.
More details will be in Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.