'Virtual students' go to school without being in school - Tim Engle, PhysOrg.com

Only about 1 percent of all school kids -- elementary and secondary -- are taking virtual classes, according to national estimates. But that number is expected to grow, because virtual learning programs are popping up all over. The state of Missouri runs a virtual school, the Missouri Virtual Instruction Program (www.movip.org), now in its third year. MoVIP, as it's known, started with 2,000 students and grew 30 percent its second year. But this school year, enrollment is off about 20 percent thanks to a $1 million state budget cut, says Curt Fuchs, Missouri's coordinator of educational support services. "We are now stalled because of money," he says.