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Beaufort County explores vouchers, virtual options and budget priorities as districts eye new revenue streams
Summary
District staff presented budget priorities and outlined plans to apply for a virtual-school approval and participate in the state Education Scholarship Trust Fund (using ClassWallet). Officials said the district could offer targeted courses or services for voucher-eligible families, and stressed further analysis of costs, fees and enrollment models.
Beaufort County School District staff used the Jan. 23 work session to review budget-prioritization outreach and to introduce a proposal for expanding "personalized education opportunities." The proposed approach would pair two possible pathways: operating virtual/hybrid instruction and participating in the state Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF), which would route parent-directed state funds through a ClassWallet account for specific services.
Miss Crosby (director of budget) told the board the district had held multiple listening sessions, principal meetings and a survey, collecting themes that produced ten draft budget priorities. She said the priorities reflect input from students, principals and community members and included compensation, recruitment and retention incentives, expanded special-education support, multilingual-learner staffing and extended-learning opportunities.
On personalized education, staff said the district is preparing a ClassWallet application and a virtual-school application to the state. "These two models increase student success by providing diverse and flexible education opportunities," staff said, noting a potential enrollment and revenue upside if the district can capture students from homeschool or private-school pathways who opt to use ESTF funds for district services.
Board members pressed staff on costs, revenue models and limits. Staff said the current maximum scholarship amount is $7,500 per student, rising to $7,600 on Feb. 8, and explained that the district's preliminary per-student cost baseline for full-time enrollment was roughly $14,500 based on last year's figures; partial-service or course-level participation would be priced differently. "We landed on common costs for all classes and backed out options based on whether they're virtual or in person," the presenter said.
Members raised equity and operational questions, including how fees would cover overhead and who would manage a new program. Staff said a program manager position will be required and that careful accounting must ensure per-seat fees do not underprice the district's fully allocated costs.
No formal decision was made. Staff said they will continue analysis, return with recommended fee schedules and timeline, and coordinate applications (virtual school application was noted as due to the state on Jan. 30 in the slide materials).
