Students at Lonestar Online Academy at Roscoe (LSOA), a K-6 virtual school that opened during the pandemic, found themselves without a classroom a month before school started due to the screening requirements of SB 15 that was signed into law by Governor Abbott during their 2021 inaugural year. The requirements state any child who didn’t meet attendance requirements, received a grade C or less, or failed any STAAR test can’t enroll in a virtual school if they received 50% or more of their education online the previous school year.

Texas parents believe, and legal experts agree, that the Texas Education Agency is misinterpreting the law. The guardrails created in the bill were aimed at new programs created after the passage of the virtual education bill, not existing, or grandfathered, programs like LSOA.

For many students, LSOA had been their lifeline after a tumultuous school career. The list of those affected by the screening requirements includes special needs individuals, victims of bullying, and the immunocompromised.

“Neither my daughter nor I have strong immune systems,” wrote Marjorie B. in a letter to Mike Morath, Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. “Online learning has protected us from exposure to Covid…We have already lost her father and my brother due to Covid, and so I am deeply disappointed in the state’s decision to force her out of our online school of choice. Please help me keep my baby safe by helping to reverse this misguided interpretation of the law that harms families.”

“I would like my child to stay in an online school because she has had emotional abandonment issues since 2020 when her grandfather passed away,” writes another parent, Lisa V.. “Her anxiety when I am not around can be debilitating. Last year was her first time doing a full online school, and she thrived with me by her side as a learning coach. I am deeply disappointed the state has taken this option away from our family.”

At LSOA, special needs students saw their admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) meetings and Individualized Education Plans (IEP) given priority, which had been lacking in their local school district. There were students who arrived grade levels behind and showed improvement over the academic year. Many had overcome failed remote learning attempts at brick-and-mortar schools only to now face the possibility of being forced back into a schooling option that doesn’t work for them.

This is only a small sample of the stories The National Coalition for Public School Options (PSO) has received.

PSO-Texas is working with families to encourage legislators and other policymakers to intervene on their behalf before it’s too late. In a letter to legislators, one parent wrote, “The travesty is that many students who started the year behind grade level, who were bullied in traditional classrooms, who have health concerns or are unable to learn as well in in-class settings, will be forced back into environments that are not conducive to their learning needs, or that may not be healthy for them.”

“Just imagine a brick-and-mortar school being forced to send out more than 1,300 disenrollment letters. The outcry would be enormous. Why should it be any different for our public virtual school?”