Tiny District Finds Bonanza of Pupils and Funds Online

[Rose Siding]

BRANSON, Colo. - With no grocery store or gas station and a population of 77 souls, this desert village seems an unlikely home for a fast-growing public school that has enrolled students from all across Colorado.

There are just 65 students attending Branson's lone brick and mortar school, but there are an additional 1,000 enrolled in its online affiliate. And with the state paying school districts $5,600 per pupil, Branson Online has been a bonanza. Founded in 2001, it has received $15 million so far.

The school district has used the money to hire everyone in town who wants a job, including the mayor, who teaches 15 students via e-mail. It has broadcast radio commercials statewide to recruit students and built a new headquarters here. But if the school has been financially successful, its academic record is mixed, and the authorities have put the school on academic probation.

Branson Online is one of at least 100 Internet-based public schools that local educators have founded nationwide in recent years, often in partnership with private companies, and many online schools share Branson's strengths and weaknesses, experts said....

http://nytimes.com/2005/02/09/education/09online.html?hp&ex=1107925200&en=913defb79cb0056b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[sandnsea]

1. K12, Inc.

Buried in the story,
"The largest is Colorado Virtual Academy, a charter school based in a Denver suburb that is affiliated with K12 Inc., a company based in Virginia. Jeff Kwitowski, a K12 spokesman, said the company managed Virtual Academies in nine states and in Washington, D.C., with a total enrollment of about 15,000, which he said made it the nation's largest operator of online public schools."

K12 is Bill Bennett's company. The school administers their software program in exchange for a percentage of the $5,600 per student. He is making a fortune off of this. It's not like the Branson Online which has teachers. K12 just sends out software to homeschoolers and has the district keep track of records the parent submits. Total scam as far as I'm concerned.