K12's Business Model

Firstly, K12’s business model is to wholesale the product of education—through their ownership of intellectual property used in distance learning modules and curriculum—to school districts, states, and individual schools (Steck 76). K12, founded in 1999 by William J. Bennett, the former Secretary of Education under the Reagan Administration, recognized the enormous potential profit in the virtual schooling market (Glass 10-11). Originally, K12 served as a provided of curriculum to home-schooled students (Glass and Welner 10). In 2015, the company reportedly sold their curriculum and distance-learning products to schools in 13 states, serving over 50,000 students. By 2008, the number of states that had students enrolled in full-time virtual

States embarked on partnerships with virtual school providers because due to the expectation that the lack of physical infrastructure needed, this will reduce costs and meet the demands of reduced education budgets. However, virtual education providers, like K12, lobbied legislatures for increased funding because virtual charter schools end up cost relatively the same as traditional, brick-and-mortar schools (Glass 7). For instance, Florida Virtual School (a K12 school) costs $4,800 per student; this is only around $700 less than the standard per-student spending in the state (Glass 8). In spite of the arguments over whether or not virtual schooling saves money, several state legislatures were successfully lobbied by K12 to require online courses in traditional school districts (Glass 10). In 2007, Florida required all school districts to give students in grades kindergarten to eighth grade access to virtual courses. Alabama and Michigan require all high schools to take one online course to graduate. And by 2008, in South Carolina, three full-time virtual charter schools opened “their doors” (Glass 10-11).
Thirdly, virtual charter school systems, as part of state public school districts, are drawing their managerial and fiscal practices from the corporate sector. South Carolina Virtual Charter School (SCVCS), a South Carolina charter school “powered” by K12, advertises to prospective parents through mission and vision statements on their website. Akin to corporate mission and vision statements, SCVCS aims