Background:

In December 2012, there were 46 school districts that did not offer a high school program. These districts are known as "nonhigh" and students in these districts often attend high school in neighboring districts that have a high school program. The school district where the student attends high school receives state funding for the nonhigh students, and the nonhigh district pays the high school district additional costs funded by levies. Nonhigh districts also pay their share of capital facilities costs in high school districts that serve more than one-third of the nonhigh district's students.

Any new high school program in a nonhigh district must be approved by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). One of the requirements for establishing a new high school program is enrollment of at least 400 students in 9th through 12th grade, with a lesser number permitted if there is substantial evidence that enrollment will reach 400 within three years and remain stable.

What is an Innovation Academy Cooperative?

An Innovation Academy Cooperative (Academy) is created by two or more nonhigh districts that form an Academy for their resident students. Student enrollment in this Academy is optional. One of the participating districts reports the students enrolled in an Academy for purposes of state funding allocations, but the levy bases of all participating districts are adjusted to reflect each district's proportional share of enrollment.

In the fall of 2010, OSPI approved the first and only Academy. This agreement is between the Valley, Orient, Loon Lake, Summit Valley, and Orondo school districts. It created Paideia High School and reported 21 students as of October, 2012. Some students attend this program in person and others participate online.

An Academy is a high school program with one or more of the following characteristics:

interdisciplinary curriculum and instruction organized into subject-focused Academies, with encouragement for an initial focus on science, technology, and math;
a combination of service delivery models, including alternative learning experiences, online learning, work-based learning, experiential and field-based learning, and direct instruction offered at multiple and varying locations; and
creative scheduling and use of existing school or community facilities to minimize costs and maximize access for students who are geographically dispersed.

Enrollment of a Nonresident Student

A student may enroll in a school district other than the particular district where he or she resides. A nonresident student may enroll if:

a financial, educational, safety, or health condition affecting the student would likely be improved as a result of the transfer;
attendance at the school in the nonresident district is more accessible to the parent's place of work or to the location of child care;
there is a special hardship or detrimental condition; or
the student resides in-state and is a child of a full-time certificated or classified school employee, and attends the school where the employee parent is assigned or another school in the same K-12 continuum.