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Astoria SD 1 board weighs district‑sponsored K–8 virtual charter with OpenEd to draw back homeschool students
Summary
Board members reviewed a proposal to create the Lower Columbia Virtual Charter Academy (K–8), a district‑sponsored, tuition‑free virtual charter run in partnership with vendor OpenEd. The plan aims to increase enrollment and recover funding lost to post‑pandemic declines; the board asked for ESD input on SPED and specialist capacity before deciding.
A board member presented a proposal to establish a district‑sponsored K–8 virtual charter academy in partnership with OpenEd, telling colleagues the move is intended to recover students and state funding lost after the pandemic. The proposal would let families register for the Lower Columbia Virtual Charter Academy through the district and would admit in‑district students as well as applicants statewide.
The board member framed the effort as a response to falling enrollment, saying, "at the end of the pandemic coming back to school, the state lost 20,000 students," and noting the district has lost roughly 150–200 students since the pandemic and tracks about 180 local homeschool students. He and others described the charter as a way to reconnect homeschooled students to district programs while increasing average daily membership (ADM) revenue.
Travis Osborne,…
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