The state Board of Education today denied the Arkansas Virtual Academy’s request to grow from 500 to 1,500 students.

The school receives state funding to provide education support by computer to home-schooled students. It’s an affiliate of the for-profit K12 corporation founded by former Education Secretary Bill Bennett. It receives per pupil funding equivalent to the amount provided students in conventional school districts, though it has no physical schools for the children, who are drawn statewide.

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A number of parents with children in the program spoke in support of the school as did Rep. Justin Harris, who’d tried unsuccessfully to legislatively mandate an increase in the school’s size.

But Board members weren’t happy with the depth of budget numbers and preferred to wait for an interim legislative study. The board voted 7-1 against the expansion.

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More on the jump.

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