Online school is booming across the KC metro
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More students are going to school entirely online than they were before the pandemic, and Kansas and Missouri both beat the national rate.
The big picture: Full-time online enrollment has doubled nationwide since before 2020 to about 1 in 80 students. That number is about 1 in 50 in Kansas and 1 in 60 in Missouri.
How it works: Students log in from home for classes taught by state-certified teachers, and they take the same state tests as in-person students.
- In Missouri, any district can start a virtual school and hire a company to run it. Under a 2022 law, families can enroll anywhere in the state without their home districts' OK.
- In Kansas, every online school must belong to a public district, and the state approves and audits each one every year.
Zoom in: K12, part of for-profit Stride Inc., runs big schools on both sides of the metro.
- Missouri's largest online public school, Missouri Virtual Academy (MOVA), had nearly 3,900 students last year. Kansas City and St. Louis are its biggest markets, Steve Richards, executive director of K12's Missouri schools, tells Axios.
- In Kansas, K12 runs Insight School of Kansas and Kansas Virtual Academy through the Spring Hill district south of Olathe. Insight had about 1,160 students last year, per federal data.
Follow the money: Families pay nothing. The state pays the host district for each student, about $6,760 per pupil in Missouri last school year, per the Missouri Independent, and the district pays K12 out of that.
What they're saying: In a state survey, families said their top reasons for going online were more personalized approaches and academic opportunities their local schools didn't offer.
- Yesenia Rodriguez pulled her son out of Martin City K-8 in the Grandview C-4 district when he was in second grade and testing at a kindergarten level, she tells Axios.
- After two years of homeschooling, he enrolled in K12's Missouri Digital Academy (MODA), where he's now a fifth grader.
- "Everything is better now, especially his confidence," she says. The only thing he misses is recess.
Richards says kids who switched to virtual school were often bullied at their previous one, are working to help pay bills or are caring for a sick relative, and most (80% of K12's Missouri high schoolers) arrive short on credits.
By the numbers: Missouri's online program grew from about 4,400 students in 2021-22 to nearly 16,500 last year, more than 14,000 of them full-time, per the state's latest report.
- Kansas went from about 5,700 full-time virtual students in 2020 to nearly 9,900 in 2023-24, per the Kansas Association of School Boards.
Yes, but: Online students score well below their in-person peers on state tests. Nearly two-thirds of Missouri's virtual students scored below basic in math last year, versus just over a quarter statewide, per the state report.
- MOVA graduated 66% of its students in 2025 and MODA 47%, compared with about 91% statewide, per DESE. K12 says most of its high schoolers were already behind on credits when they enrolled.
- In Kansas, 14% of Insight students were proficient in math last spring, versus 54% at Spring Hill High, per state data compiled by SchoolDigger.
What's next: Richards says enrollment looks strong again this year and says he wants Missouri to grade online schools on how much students improve rather than whether they hit grade level.