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Oregon Charter Academy presents enrollment and funding picture; ORCA contract noted through 2032
Summary
ORCA representative Allison Gavin reported virtual-school enrollment and programming, said ORCA receives a charter rate (not the same as brick-and-mortar funding), and confirmed the district contract runs through 2032; board members asked about state funding changes and contract implications.
Allison Gavin, representing Oregon Charter Academy (ORCA), gave the board an overview of ORCA’s enrollment and program operations and answered board questions about funding and contract duration.
Gavin said June enrollment was 3,185 and that the figure she saw earlier in the day was 3,175. She described ORCA’s summer credit-recovery offerings, a 9th-grade "Freshman Success" virtual class (four-week program with twice-weekly live sessions) and resources such as IXL and Sora. Gavin said ORCA is hiring roughly 22 new staff for the coming year and emphasized that virtual schools have different revenue and cost structures from brick-and-mortar districts.
Board members pressed about state funding parity for online schools. Gavin said ORCA "gets paid the charter rate" and that ORCA and the district share portions of that rate; she estimated ORCA typically receives "70 to 80%" of certain comparative figures when state funds and other streams are considered. Gavin also said ORCA’s contract with the district runs through 2032 and that ORCA is active in legislative discussions about funding changes.
The board and ORCA representatives agreed ORCA is an option for a subset of students but said the district must plan around enrollment shifts and the fiscal consequences.
