Plano ISD’s Virtual Academy has seen a steep decline in enrollment for the 2022-23 school year as students returned to regular classes.

The academy this year has 60 students enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade, according to data released at the Oct. 3 meeting of the Plano ISD board of trustees. That is down from the more than 1,100 students enrolled in the academy in October 2021.

Steve Ewing, executive director for school leadership and innovation, told the board that the academy’s decline in enrollment was expected. The academy began in response to the pandemic, he said.

“We needed options for our families,” he said.

Ewing told the board that enrollment decreased this school year for two main reasons: because parents returned to work and because families wanted more in-person social interactions and learning for their students.


Several improvements have been made at the academy this school year, including switching to the Canvas platform for online learning and having synchronous instruction that is more similar to an in-person schedule.

The Texas Legislature approved the operation of the tuition-free Virtual Academy as part of a two-year pilot program. Whether the academy continues beyond this school year will depend in part on whether lawmakers decide to allow it to continue, Superintendent Theresa Williams told the board. If the Legislature allows it, then PISD officials would need to decide whether to continue offering this option to families, officials said.