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POLICY STATEMENT

The Ministry of Education will use multiple enrolment data collections to fund public boards of education or authorities to deliver instruction through distributed learning. The Ministry will provide funding for each eligible educational program or course when a student receives instruction through distributed learning. Students must become active under the terms of the Active Policy to be considered an eligible enrolment.

RATIONALE

This policy allows public boards of education or authorities operating DL schools to enrol students after September 30 and receive funding. Prior to implementation, many DL schools did not accept new enrolments after September 30, limiting student flexibility and choice. This policy consolidates distributed learning funding models that existed prior to September 2006.

LEGISLATION/ REGULATIONS

• School Act, Section 3.1
• School Act, Section 106.3

POLICY

Students in Grades K - 9 may be enrolled with only one public board of education or authority at a time. If a student enrols with a public board of education or authority operating a DL school after September 30, the student will generate funding for the portion of the year in the DL school. Full-time Equivalents (FTEs) for K - 9 are determined in a manner similar to other schools, subject to the Active Policy and Form 1701 Instructions.

Students in Grades 10 - 12 that enrol with a public board of education or authority operating a DL school may enrol with other public boards of education or authorities operating DL schools. Each public board of education or authority receives 0.1250 FTE for each four-credit Grade 10 - 12 course in which a student enrols and becomes active in, subject to the Active Policy and Form 1701 Instructions.

Students are not allowed to take the same course at the same time at two different schools. A course must be completed, or withdrawn from, before a student can enrol in the same course again.

For Grade 10-12 students (including adults) to be eligible for new funding in the same DL course(s) in the same DL school, the following conditions must be met:

1. The student must have been previously reported as failed (through course completion), or completed the course and want to improve their mark, or were withdrawn from that course.
2. If course was withdrawn from or not completed there must be a record of student inactivity for two DL enrolment counts along with a corresponding record of attempts made by the DL school to contact the student for that course.
3. All areas of study consistent with the Integrated Resource Package requirements for the course, must be provided to the student in all re-claimed course instances.
4. Assessment of the student’s past work must not be used to evaluate re-claimed course progress.

Adult students may enrol in a DL school and are funded according to the Adult Education provisions in the Ministry of Education Operating Grants Manual.

Non-graduated adult students may take eligible courses (as defined in the Adult Funding Policy) that lead to the British Columbia Certificate of Graduation (the Dogwood) or the Adult Graduation Diploma (the Adult Dogwood).

Eligible tuition-free courses for adults, that have completed the graduation requirements from a secondary school or high school in BC or in another jurisdiction (known as Graduated Adults), are only those Ministry or Board/Authority Authorized courses listed on LearnNow BC.

Further funding eligibility requirements for all students are set out in the K-12 Funding-General Policy.

PROCEDURES

Public boards of education or authorities will be funded for school-aged students enrolled in DL schools as follows:

• Funding will be based on student enrolment counts conducted in September, February, and May.
• Every student enrolled in Kindergarten through Grade 7 that becomes active in their eligible DL program by September 30 will be funded at 1.0 FTE (0.5 FTE for Kindergarten unless eligible for full-time).
• Students in Grades 8 and 9 will be funded at 0.5 FTE plus 0.125 FTE per eligible four-credit course to a maximum of 1.0 FTE per school year. Each student must have a learning plan that shows all the courses the students will take during the school year. Additional courses taken after the September enrolment data submission that are not included in the plan will not be included in the students funding calculation.
• A student in Grades K - 9 may be enrolled and funded through only one school. If a student enrolled in Kindergarten through Grade 9 chooses to take part of their educational program through more than one school, public boards of education may make their own arrangements for shared services as long as no tuition fees are charged to the student.
• For K - 9 students new to a particular DL school and who become active by the February student enrolment count, additional funding will be allocated to the public board of education or authority operating the DL school at half the FTE rate for that school year (pro-rated to reflect half the school year). Similarly, new active K - 9 students at the May count will be pro-rated at 1/3 of the FTE rate.

Students in Grades 10 - 12 will be funded at 0.1250 FTE for each eligible four-credit course they become active in (see Form 1701 Instructions for course credit and FTE calculations):

• Students may enrol anytime during the calendar year.
• Students may combine Grade 10 - 12 courses in DL schools with courses in non-distributed learning schools (regular, alternate, continuing education). To aid students taking DL courses, non-DL schools may claim one funded support block per student per year (the combined total number of support blocks and courses cannot exceed a maximum of eight for these students – as per the Form 1701 Instructions).
• A student enrolling only in Grade 10 – 12 courses in a DL school, who is also enrolled in Grades K-9 in another school, is counted as a Grade 10-12 student for DL funding purposes.

For example: if a student between Grades 10 and 12 wanted to take six courses in a regular, alternate, or continuing education school and two courses through a DL school, the Ministry would fund:

• the public board of education or authority operating the regular, alternate, or continuing education school per existing funding policy, and
• the public board of education or authority operating the DL school at 0.125 FTE for each eligible four-credit course the student became active in.

Public boards of education or authorities will report to the Ministry when students enrol and when they become active participants in a distributed learning program or course. The Ministry does not fund claims for students who enrol but do not become active.

Public boards of education or authorities operating DL schools will receive funding as part of their regular operating grants.

Public boards of education or authorities operating DL schools will be funded for adults as follows:

• All adults will be funded as per the adult rate in the Operating Grants Manual.
• All adults must become active in their eligible course(s) to be claimed for funding.
• Graduated adults are only eligible for Ministry or Board/Authority Authorized courses listed on LearnNow BC.

Adults in DL schools will be counted for funding purposes at the same time as school-aged students in September, February and May. Please see the Adult Funding Policy for additional information.