Alaska Statutes Title 14. Education, Libraries, and Museums § 14.30.800. Virtual education consortium

(a) The department shall, in cooperation with school districts, establish a virtual education consortium for the purpose of making virtual education and professional development resources available to students and teachers in the state. The department shall establish standards for consortium resources. The consortium shall create and maintain a database of virtual education courses for students, training in virtual instruction for teachers, and professional development courses for teachers of students throughout the state if the coursework curriculum meets the state standards established by the department. The database must be accessible to all school districts that participate in the consortium.

(b) For teachers delivering or facilitating virtual coursework to students through the consortium database, the consortium shall provide training and professional development on virtual instruction methods and the differences between virtual instruction and instruction offered in a classroom. A teacher may not provide instruction through a course for students that is in the database unless

(c) The consortium shall employ a reading specialist available to school districts to provide virtual intensive reading intervention services. The duties of the reading specialist include

(d) The department may require a school district that participates in the consortium to pay a fee to the consortium. If the department requires a fee, the department shall establish the fee in regulations, based on a recommendation made by the consortium, and may adjust the fee annually as necessary. The fees must approximately equal the consortium's prorated administrative costs related to reviewing and approving courses and maintaining the database.

(e) A school district that provides a course included in the database may charge a fee to the school district in which a student who takes the course is enrolled. The department shall establish the fee in regulations.

(f) The consortium may require, as a condition of participation, that school districts that provide courses or have students participating in courses included in the database under (a) of this section adopt the same school term and class schedule for all or part of a school day. The school term must meet the requirements of AS 14.03.030.

(g) In this section, “virtual education” or “virtual instruction” means instruction delivered through telecommunications or another digital or electronic method.