District says in-house virtual program saved about $1.3 million compared with outside cyber costs

The Boyertown Area School District presented data showing the district-run virtual program served about 139 students in 2024–25 and cost roughly $424,102 to operate; district staff estimated the cost to send the same students to outside cyber providers could be roughly $1.7 million, yielding an approximate savings of $1.3 million by keeping virtual instruction in-house.

Mike Stout reported the district supported approximately 139 total virtual students this year: about 121 at the high school, 13 at the middle school and 5 at the elementary level. Stout used a conservative outside-cyber cost estimate of $12,000 per student to calculate the potential $1.7 million figure.

Stout said the in-house program mostly uses district teachers and a curricular platform called Accelerate Learning, which many cyber schools use; the Accelerate Learning platform cost was reported at about $70,000 annually. The MOU cost figure of about $424,102 includes teacher stipends under the current memorandum of understanding plus the curricular platform, Stout said. “The total cost for the MOU that you have agreed upon for the past few years... would be approximately $424,102,” Stout said.

When asked whether the district would use its own teachers, the administration said most virtual instruction is taught by Boyertown Area School District teachers; some training and stipends are part of the program. Administration emphasized continuity and curricular control as benefits of running the program internally.

The board was briefed on the numbers as part of a request to continue the MOU for 2025–26; the item will appear on the June 24 agenda for formal approval.