Georgia Virtual School: Baseline Data on Revenues and Expenditures

No Child Left Behind legislation continues to be a driving force for school districts, allowing virtual schools to become a tool that supplements the curriculum of local schools by offering everything from remedial courses to advanced placement courses. Over the years, research has begun to show the effectiveness of online learning as compared to traditional classroom instruction, but the issues of funding and cost effectiveness still have questions to be resolved. In 2005, the Georgia legislature passed Senate Bill 33 creating the Georgia Virtual School. The researcher sought to provide decision makers of the Georgia Virtual School baseline data on the revenues and expenditures of the Georgia Virtual School; to compare the expenditure categories of the Georgia Virtual School with expenditure categories from different states; and finally, to make comparisons of the cost per FTE of the Georgia Virtual School with the costs per FTE of the 180 school districts in Georgia. Common descriptive statistics such as percentages, means, and standard deviations were used to analyze Georgia Virtual School revenues, expenditures, and costs per FTE; and a paired sample t-Test was used to determine if any significant differences were found between different categories within the costs per FTE. Results of the study determined the sources, amounts, and percentages of revenues; and the categories, amounts, and percentages of expenditures of the Georgia Virtual School. The study also determined that the Georgia Virtual School had a lower cost per FTE compared to any of the 180 school districts in Georgia. The researcher recommends further research to determine the cost efficiency of the Georgia Virtual School and continued state appropriations that allow all students in the state of Georgia to take needed courses from the Georgia Virtual School free of student charge.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education in Education Administration (Ed.D.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation (open access)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development

Year dc:date.available

2007

Author dc:creator

• Sigman, James Kelly

Contributors dc:contributor

• Linda M. Arthur
• Ralph Gornto

• ETD
• Georgia virtual school
• Online education
• Virtual school
• Funding
• Revenue
• Expenditures
• Costs per FTE
• Computer-assisted instruction

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/247

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1247