Avoyelles School District could get paid for homeschoolers

It seems home schooled students could have a significant impact on the Avoyelles Parish School District’s revenues this coming school year -- but not in the way most would expect.

Grade Results -- a private company based in Dallas has offered to share 300 of its Louisiana students with the three non-charter public high schools.

The students are enrolled in the company’s Great Teachers Academy, an online home school program.

Grade Results representative Chris Lee presented the proposal to the School Board’s Executive Committee on July 16. The committee recommended the plan for adoption at the Aug. 6 board meeting.

Lee said Grade Results will hold 300 top performing students for Avoyelles Parish schools until the Aug. 6 meeting. The School Board could choose to accept fewer than that, he added.

Lee said he read articles online about the School Board’s concerns over declining enrollment and the possible effect of a new charter school on enrollment.

He contacted Superintendent Blaine Dauzat with this proposal, which he said addresses those concerns.

It was the second time Lee had contacted Dauzat about sharing GTA students. Dauzat passed on a proposal presented last year.

LAST YEAR'S OFFER

“I spoke with the superintendent last year about possibly taking 1,000 adjudicated youth,” Lee said. “He told me that would probably drop the district’s Performance Score by a letter grade -- and he was probably right.

“A large school district can absorb these students without taking a significant hit.” Lee said, but a smaller district such as APSD cannot.

Lee said a large portion of Grade Results/Great Teachers students are “adjudicated,” either expelled from their own school or incarcerated in a juvenile facility.

Judges “sentence them to finish their high school diploma with us, which is a wonderful thing for them and their future.”

Lee said he understands why that was not an attractive offer and why this one better meets the School Board’s needs.

Under the proposal, the School Board will receive all state Minimum Foundation Program funds for the homeschooled students. The board will be required to send Grade Results $4,000 per student out of its state funds.

Lee said the Avoyelles School System will net at least $2,500 per student -- or about $750,000. Grade Results will “front” the board the $1.2 million the board owes it. The board will reimburse GTA that amount, with minimal interest, when it receives the MFP funds.

‘BUDGET STRUGGLE’

Dauzat told the committee the district is in “a budget struggle.” This proposal provides a new source of revenue. In the past few years, enrollment in online charter schools and homeschool
programs has contributed to a decline in enrollment.

The opening of Red River Charter Academy this school year will also result in a loss of students in grades 6-8.

Of the 300 students, about 130 are middle school students -- which will almost cover the expected loss to RRCA.

Lee said the Great Teachers Academy students will continue to be taught by GTA teachers, using a curriculum aligned to the Louisiana educational standards.

Dauzat told board members a possible negative is that the students assigned to the high schools could result in the schools being placed in a larger classification for sports.

While that should not be a major consideration, Dauzat said he wanted board members to be aware of that possibility.

Lee said the beauty of the GTA proposal is that the district gets a double benefit -- more money and assessment test scores that can help the individual schools and district Performance Scores.

“These students are in the top 20 percent” of academic performance, Lee said. “About 35 percent are dual enrolled in college courses.”

After the meeting, Lee said students enroll in the Great Teachers Academy program because they had problems in school, such as bullying, or were not satisfied with their public school.

“Parents may have enrolled them in a small religious school and found out that school is not certified and their child would not qualify for TOPS,” Lee said. “These are smart kids who will be going to college. They deserve an opportunity to receive the TOPS assistance. This proposal gives them that while also helping the local school board.”

‘ABSOLUTELY LEGAL’

Lee said the arrangement is “absolutely legal. We have been doing this for 17 years. A local school district can accept students from anywhere in the state if they are taught in a virtual environment,” he continued. “If the student is attending a brick-and-mortar school, they must reside in the parish and attend the school for which they are zoned.”

Lee said GTA does not receive any state funds directly because it is not a local public school district or public charter school. However, he said the school has partnered with local boards and charter schools to receive payment from the state funds those entities receive.

Students in online schools must take the state assessment tests in a “proctored” setting -- physically sitting in a room, taking the test under a certified teacher’s supervision.

Lee said it would probably not be feasible to require all 300 GTA students to come to Avoyelles Parish to take the tests. Some in nearby parishes could do that.

Those in Shreveport, Jefferson Parish, Monroe, Lake Charles, etc. may go to regional sites where GTA teachers would monitor the tests, which would then be considered part of the Avoyelles School District’s test results.

Lee said Avoyelles Parish could send a team of its teachers to serve as proctors for the test, but it isn’t necessary.

“That would be up to the superintendent and the school district,” Lee said.

“We try to make this as easy for the local school district as possible,” Lee continued. “We use our teachers and we do all the record-keeping. The school district just signs saying they accept the students.

Lee said GTA students have 1-on-1 attention from teachers with at least a master’s degree.

“They take their classes on their own schedule,” he said. “If they don’t understand something in the lesson, they hit the ‘ask teacher’ button and within five minutes a teacher responds to answer questions or help them understand the subject matter.”