Contrary to popular belief, online education does not cost less than traditional schooling, according to virtual school leaders who revealed myths and barriers surrounding eLearning at a May 29 forum in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education (ED).

The forum, called "Exploring Virtual Schools," was the first in a series of events to be hosted by ED's newly created Office of Innovation and Improvement, which oversees 25 discretionary grant programs and aims to help school administrators identify innovative strategies and overcome barriers to accomplishing the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

"Lawmakers in a lot of states think this can be done on the cheap," said Charles Zogby, senior vice president of education and policy for K12 Inc., which runs virtual schools in seven states. Before joining K12, Zogby served as education commissioner for Pennsylvania, which was a pioneer of the virtual charter school movement.

"We operate at a cost 20 to 35 percent lower than a traditional school, but we have costs that traditional schools do not have," Zogby said of K12. For example, to complete the state assessment in Pennsylvania, he said, K12 had to rent 40 sites and hire staff to oversee the exam.

Zogby also cited a KPMG study of Pennsylvania's cyber charter schools that found there is a correlation between cost and quality of education.

This fact is echoed in the "Colorado Online Education Programs Study," released May 12 by the Colorado Department of Education.

"Reports from online programs across the country, as well as those within Colorado, consistently indicate that the cost per student of a high-quality online learning program is the same as or greater than the per-student cost of physical school education," said the study, which examined virtual school programs nationwide.

Typically, 85 percent of education budgets are spent on staffing, so the savings that come from eliminating school buildings is miniscule and often is less than the cost of developing eLearning curriculum, the study said.

"Physical schools do not pay for course development except through the purchase of textbooks and other commercially generated course materials; these purchases do not represent a substantial cost on a per-pupil basis. Since cyber schools often purchase computers for every student, hardware costs are also substantial," the study said.

The Colorado study adds that statewide programs are more cost-effective than ones run by individual school districts. Also, virtual schools can save money by simplifying their course design and adjusting student-per-teacher ratios, the study says, although it warns, "Such cost-reduction strategies are not in keeping with best practices for achieving successful student learning."

At the forum, Julie Young, chief executive of the Florida Virtual School (FLVS)—one of the nation's first statewide, state-run virtual schools—said her school has successfully reduced costs by employing a combination of full-time and part-time staff.