Photo: Digital Vision
A relic of the pandemic might be making a comeback in a good way. While many people might think of virtual education as one of many COVID-era failures, around 62,000 students were still taking advantage of it during the 2024-25 school year. That number might rise after recent legislation.
Senate Bill 569, which passed during the regular session, is using virtual education to expand student access to more specialized classes that might not be available at every school but can now be taken through ISD-affiliated online schools.
State Senator Paul Bettencourt, who was an author of the bill, explained that, "This is popular, especially if you're looking at coursework that's just generally not offered at every school." He pointed to specific examples like specialized language French or Latin classes.
Bettencourt also pointed out that while COVID-era virtual school was widely unpopular, there was a small subset of students who performed better virtually. He said, "10% of the cohort did very well virtually. This isn't for everybody, but if you mix it appropriately, it can be a solution."
He did make sure to clarify that this would not be a repeat of the COVID systems, pointing out a number of major reforms, namely the inclusion of these virtual schools in the Texas Education Agency's A-F accountability ratings.
According to Bettencourt, this will become just another tool available to students in the education toolbox and is based on recommendations from the Texas Commission on Virtual Education, which was created by the House and Senate to study virtual education.
Bettencourt praised the commission's work, saying, "I'm actually very encouraged by what we saw in the commission's studies, how this can help all students if they take advantage of it, and for the students that really like it, they can effectively leap ahead on their coursework."