Florida Virtual School uses ads to attract more online students

Hoping to bring in new students, Florida Virtual School has pumped up its advertising budget, including running TV ads for the first time.

The virtual school will increase spending by $1 million to nearly $2.2 million to pay for TV and radio ads and billboards over the summer.

FLVS trustee Linda Pellegrini said she voted for the additional spending because of competition from other online programs offered by charter and private schools.

“It was time that we put the word out and let people know that we were the first, and we feel that we’re the best,” she said.

The Orlando-based school

hopes to “increase awareness,” whether students want to take a couple of online courses or enroll in a full-time program, spokeswoman Tania Clow said.

Instead of an elected school board, Pellegrini and six other trustees appointed by the governor make decisions about FLVS. Other trustees did not respond to requests for comment.

Florida Virtual School, founded in 1997, was the country’s first statewide online public high school. Ronald Blocker, former superintendent of Orange County schools, is the president and CEO. Its state funding is based on the number of classes taken.

The vast majority of students enrolled in the virtual school take courses to supplement their traditional high school or home-school curriculum. But since 2011, students can take all of their courses online through a full-time program.

Reports show 5,595 students were enrolled in the full-time program during the 2014-2015 school year, up from 5,104 the year before. This past spring, more than 620 students earned diplomas through the fulltime program, which is free to all Florida students.

State lawmakers have helped fuel the enrollment increase by requiring students to complete at least one online course before they graduate from high school.

Proponents said the requirement was a way to ensure students leave high school ready for a technology-based world and prepared for online courses in college. Lawmakers softened the law this year by saying students can meet the requirement if they pass certain tests.

Online courses are a cheaper alternative to brick-and-mortar classes for the state. A 2014 Harvard study found that funding for Florida Virtual School was about 10 percent less per student than for traditional schools.

The increased advertising spending comes as 80 people who worked with the virtual school were laid off this summer.

The online school voted late last year to discontinue using Connections Academy for its full-time middle school program, prompting Connections’ statewide layoffs.

FLVS already operated the full-time high school program, and Connections will continue providing teachers, software and resources for students in the full-time elementary program.

About 20 of the Connections employees who were laid off have moved to other positions within Connections, said Sarah Savage, the company’s vice president of human resources.

Florida Virtual School has had “a great partnership” with Connection Academy, and the decision to part ways on the middle school program was mutual, said Katie Santana, director of instruction for the full-time program.

Pellegrini, a former social studies teacher in Orange, said she wasn’t aware of any specific issues that caused FLVS to stop using Connections for the full-time middle school program.

“It makes sense to provide for FLVS to provide its own teachers and curriculum as the program serves more students and offers more courses,’’ said Pellegrini, president of Pellegrini Homes in Orlando. “We feel having control of that is better for our students.”

But parent Jinia Parker said she was troubled by the number of typos and poorly worded questions and resources her son encountered in the Connections program.

“It wasn’t uncommon to have issues in the lessons,” said Parker, who lives in Pinellas County.

The problem was so significant, Parker said, that she considered withdrawing her son, who recently finished eighth grade. She didn’t, she said, largely because her family likes the convenience of online courses and her son is doing well.

Another parent, Mindy Engstrom of Kissimmee, who has two teenage children full-time enrolled in Florida Virtual School, praised it.

“I think it’s a great program, and I’m grateful,” she said. “My kids are excelling, and they’re getting straight As.”