KATY, Texas – Katy ISD is taking its classrooms statewide with the launch of Legacy Virtual High School, a new full-time online school that allows eligible high school students anywhere in Texas to receive a Katy ISD education without ever setting foot inside the district.
The program is open to incoming ninth through 11th-grade students and gives them a full seven-period school day delivered online by Katy ISD teachers.
Kelley Kirila, principal of Innovative Pathways, oversees the new school.
“I’m principal of innovative pathways which includes Legacy Virtual High School,” Kirila said.
Katy ISD has offered virtual education to students within the district for about 15 years. District leaders say that experience provided the foundation for expanding virtual learning into a full-time statewide option. The reach of the new program means a student living hundreds of miles from Katy can now enroll in the district.
“If you’re living in the state of Texas, you’re a student who’s an incoming 9th through 11th grader, you absolutely could get a Katy ISD education from wherever you are,” Kirila said.
Kirila called the expansion a “game changer” for students both inside and outside Katy ISD. The district already has significant experience operating online courses. More than 10,000 students took classes through Katy ISD’s supplemental virtual program this past summer.
“I think just allowing that, allowing a full-time virtual school kind of opened up that opportunity for us to say, okay, we’re already doing this, we are doing it well, why not take it to a full time student?” Kirila said.
District leaders say the program could be particularly attractive to students who need greater flexibility, including those who work full time, athletes who travel extensively with competitive teams and students with medical conditions that sometimes prevent them from attending a traditional campus. There is a trade-off. Full-time virtual students will not be able to participate in UIL activities such as sports, band or theater.
The district currently has 147 students enrolled full time. The new school also comes as traditional public school districts face increasing competition for students from private schools, charter schools and homeschooling. By making a Katy ISD education available statewide, the district is giving families another option while expanding its potential student population far beyond its geographic boundaries.
And although students may attend classes from El Paso, Dallas, Laredo, Baytown or anywhere else in Texas, they will officially be Katy ISD students.
“So if I’m in Laredo or Baytown or wherever when I graduate, what is my diploma gonna say?” Kirila was asked.
“If you were a full-time student through Legacy Virtual High School, it will say Katy ISD,” she said. “Your transcript will be a Katy ISD transcript and you’ll be graduating from Katy ISD.”
Legacy Virtual High School is also available to eligible students who already live within Katy ISD. The larger shift is significant: Katy ISD is no longer limited to competing for students who live within its traditional attendance boundaries. Through virtual education, it can now compete for students across Texas.