A "virtual" school in Kansas City, Kan., launched by the local school district allows home-schooled students to take accredited courses with a teacher’s help. While the cyber-school requires students to complete their course work by the end of the normal school year, it does give them some flexibility to progress at their own pace.

The Virtual Charter School was founded in 1997 by the Basehor-Linwood School District in Kansas City for families who home school or enroll their children in other charter schools.

By providing this variety of course information online, local education officials hope to "establish a valid academic record which includes standardized and local assessments," the district states.

The program -- and one like it in California run by a private, nonprofit group -- is being hailed as an important option for parents dissatisfied with the public school systems, the Times reports

One teacher is assigned to each virtual elementary grade, and likewise one teacher is assigned to each middle and high school class subject.

Parents pay a one-time deposit for computer and a $40 annual textbook fee. Parents must also pay for their own Internet service. Enrollment in the school, which launched in 1997 with 60 students, is expected to reach 400 this fall, the newspaper reports.

Six virtual California schools are being run by Innovative Education Management, which champions a mix of home schooling and public educators. The schools are not part of a California school district, but they are given state money for each student, the Times reports.

"We have the ability to absolutely individualize each student's learning plan," IEM President Randy Gaschler told the newspaper. "It's not easy to accommodate in a regular classroom. We can have a student working on first grade math, third grade English and fifth grade social studies."

Horizon Instructional Systems, the first charter school opened by Gaschler in 1993, acts as the school’s own Internet Service Provider and can supply families with a DSL connection for less than $400 per year, the newspaper reports.

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