A student works on a computer for online school. One of Texas’ largest online public schools abruptly closed earlier this month after years of failing ratings.
Hearst Media File photo
In an end-of-year meeting in May, staff at one of the largest public virtual schools in Texas applauded their growth in a presentation titled: “The Year We Changed Our Story.”
Leaders predicted the school, Lone Star Online Academy with 12,000 students, would improve dramatically in the state’s rating system and go from an F to a C.
Less than a month later, the school closed.
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The school’s partner district, a small school system in West Texas, decided not to renew their contract with Stride K12, a publicly traded company that operates virtual schools across the U.S. The virtual school had been dragging down the rural district’s accountability rating after years of F-ratings and was threatening the district’s own accreditation.
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Still, the closure shocked staff. Educators wiped away tears and blew their noses as leaders announced the closure in an all-staff Zoom call on June 12, according to a recording obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
“I assure you that this is not easy for any of us, and we are all here to support each other, and we will do everything we can to support you in whatever capacity you need,” Chaille Hymes, Lone Star Online Academy’s executive director, said. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
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Virtual school is one of the fastest growing forms of alternative education in Texas. In the past decade, student enrollment at public virtual schools has increased 1,200%, in large part fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But many students at the state’s public virtual schools are struggling academically.
Last year, another Stride K12 school in New Mexico ended its five-year contract and then sued the company, according to NBC News. The New Mexico district’s former superintendent slammed Stride K12, saying that their students were “taken advantage of” and “harmed” by the virtual school. The lawsuit was ultimately dropped, according to a March press release.
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The Texas closure blindsided staff and families, and some new employees are now left without a job before next school year. One self-described veteran Lone Star Online Academy parent, NaTasha Brown, said school leaders were hopeful that test scores and increased attendance would lift the school’s grade to a C.
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“Families had no reason to believe anything other than what they were told,” Brown, who lives in Rosenberg, said. “We ended the school year May 21st with the promise that we’d be welcomed back in August.”
Writing on the wall
Stride K12 leaders described the closure of Lone Star Online Academy as “sudden” and “unexpected” on the call with staff, in emails to parents and on social media, where community members frantically commented on the school’s most recent post, which was unrelated to the closure announcement.
But for those who knew where to look, cracks had begun to show.
Lone Star Online Academy has earned an F from the state every year since it opened in 2021-22. Its partner district, Roscoe-Collegiate ISD, also has earned an F since 2022, even though all of its in-person campuses, enrolling about 700 students, have A- and B-ratings.
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The virtual school wasn’t just dragging down the district’s accountability rating, which could trigger a takeover from the state after five years. It put Roscoe-Collegiate ISD’s entire accreditation at risk.
A public posting from March showed that the district’s accreditation was being monitored for the past two years. In the 2024-25 school year, the accreditation came with a warning attached. This school year, it received a probationary accreditation, one step away from losing it altogether.
Despite those warnings, Stride K12 leaders told investors on a public earnings call in late April that they were expecting a steady stream of contract renewals.
“We’re very thankful that our existing clients remain, I think, really positive on our programs,” James Ryu, chief executive officer for Stride K12, said on the call. “Clearly, we have partners that aren’t happy about things that have happened over this past year. But in general, they’re working collaboratively with us, and I think they’re pretty understanding.”
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It’s unclear when the West Texas district’s board decided to end its partnership with Stride K12, but representatives from the company said they were notified only days before announcing the closure to the community. Board meeting minutes and agendas from this year do not mention any vote by the district’s board to not renew the contract. In early February, the agenda included an item to approve the virtual school calendar for the 2026-27 school year.
The superintendent, Rose Burks, and trustees from Roscoe-Collegiate ISD did not respond to requests for comment on the decision or when it was made.
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Stride K12 blamed Roscoe-Collegiate ISD for the closure on their website.
“The district made the decision not to renew the contract. We cannot share additional details,” the website reads.
When reached for comment, Brooke Gabbert, communications director for Stride K12, said she was not able to explain the district’s decision but that the company was focused on finding a school for all affected families and jobs for employed teachers.
“We are focused on ensuring every LSOA student has a path forward for the upcoming school year and are working to make that transition as seamless as possible for families,” Gabbert said. “Despite the closure of LSOA, our presence in Texas remains strong.”
Two days before the June 12 announcement to staff and families, Stride K12’s stock began to drop slightly by one or two points. By Monday, June 15, stock price plummeted nearly 15 points, according to Yahoo Finance. The stock had not recovered by Thursday.
Lone Star Online Academy represented around 5% of Stride K12’s virtual school enrollment and around the same share of its revenue. Public financial documents from Roscoe-Collegiate ISD show that the district paid Stride K12 around $130 million last year, which made up the bulk of the school district’s total revenue of $160 million, according to an audit from last summer.
The Roscoe-Collegiate district had plans to improve performance, including at the virtual school, according to the accreditation notice, such as adopting the state’s Bluebonnet Learning materials, analyzing student progress and building a stronger culture of accountability. Student achievement test data from this year at the virtual school show marginal growth in some subjects, but students were still by and large failing.
Of the 13 grade and subject tests with results available online, a majority of students only passed in two areas, seventh and eighth grade reading. The math results were dismal: The highest passing rate was 35% among sixth graders.
Those scores drive accountability ratings, but leaders at Roscoe-Collegiate ISD did not wait for ratings to be released in August before shutting down the virtual school.
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Still, at the all-staff meeting in May, Lone Star leaders celebrated how many students took the STAAR and praised educators for increasing participation and growth.
Hymes, the executive director, pulled up a slide with a collage of photos of nine children. One held an accordion, another wore science lab goggles and a third student played the drums. Many of the students smiled wide.
“These are the faces of the kids that we’re impacting. These are the kids that every single day you’re pouring into. All of your hard work does something to contribute to their success,’ Hymes said. “This is the reason why you keep going.”
Hymes did not respond to a request for comment about the closure.
Out of a job
In an email from February obtained by the Chronicle, staff were directly assured that the school would remain open for the 2026-27 school year.
“I know some of you may be wondering whether LSOA will be open next year. The answer is yes — LSOA will operate for the 2026–2027 school year,” Hymes wrote.
The leader said that the Texas Education Agency Commissioner would review accountability data from 2026 by the end of the upcoming school year to decide on the school’s status for 2027-28.
“That conversation is more than a year away,” she said.
Up until June, staff operated on that basis, even onboarding new employees for the 2026-27 school year.
Destiny Gutierrez joined Lone Star Online Academy in April to teach fourth grade starting this August. She was still in the onboarding process when she learned in June that the school was closing, and that her job would go with it.
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Stride K12 told teachers who were already working they would try to find them positions at the company’s other virtual schools and networks, but the same could not be said for all recently-hired teachers.
Gutierrez, who’s based in East Texas, had previously worked at her local school district, but was looking forward to the new challenge of teaching students virtually.
“My main frustration is the delay in being notified because in the teaching world, jobs are normally filled by June,” Gutierrez said. “It also made me feel slightly stressed (and) uncertain because I thought I had secured a job since April.”
When she posted on social media about the news, she quickly heard from other newly hired Lone Star Online Academy employees that they also were let go.
“I feel so bad that many people will be jobless because of this,” she said.
New schools for August
Parents were equally stunned by the news, like Dana Rowley in the Houston area.
Rowley’s daughter is going into third grade and has been at Lone Star Online Academy since the beginning of her school career.
The mom said she chose virtual education for her daughter because she has autism and is nonverbal, and Rowley was scared that if she sent her to school in Houston ISD, and something bad happened on campus, her daughter wouldn’t be able to communicate about it. She was also worried about the safety of other children, she said, since her daughter would sometimes hit her head or throw things.
“I was very sad when I found out they were closing. She had really great teachers who actually took the time and the care with her and her special education IEP needs,” Rowley said.
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She was one of the parents who was transferred to another Stride-operated virtual school, Texas Virtual Academy based out of Hallsville ISD, which is the largest virtual school in Texas. Rowley heard good things about that program, but she said she is worried about how next year will go for her daughter.
“I am very nervous for her, but I’m just hoping that it’s going to be like it was at the other school,” she said. “If it’s not, then I’m going to have to make other arrangements.”
But Stride K12 may not be able to place all students in one of their free virtual schools in Texas: the Hallsville ISD program, Digital Academy of Texas based out of Texarkana ISD and Texas Online Preparatory School in Huntsville ISD.
Some students were offered a tuition-free spot at one of the company’s online private virtual schools, Grand Canyon Preparatory Academy. For parents of students in kindergarten through second grade, that was the only option. No other Texas Stride K12-operated virtual schools serve students younger than third grade.
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The company is waiving the $7,500 tuition at the online private school for this year, according to notices received by Lone Star Online Academy parents. But many are concerned about how they will pay next year, since a state law says students can only enroll in public virtual school if they attended public school the previous year.
According to an explainer sent out to parents Thursday, Stride K12 said they will ensure that if the Grand Canyon Preparatory Academy is the only option for the family after next year — and the school doesn’t get approved for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts — then they will continue to provide a tuition-free enrollment to former Lone Star Online Academy parents in the 2027-28 school year.
However, the situation is more fraught for families with students in special education. If they move to a private school, they waive their federal rights to a free and appropriate education for their child. If parents choose to go to the private school, there is a special education track that costs as much as $30,000, according to the website.
Brown, from Rosenberg, has run a parent support group for the online school on Facebook for the last four years. She had already decided not to enroll her daughter at Lone Star Online Academy next year, but she was surprised by the timing of the news and the way information was shared with families.
“I’m just outraged by the way families are being handled,” she said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect the status of a legal dispute between a New Mexico school district and Stride K12.