Katy ISD advances plan for Legacy Virtual High School and expanded virtual course offerings

Katy ISD presented details of an emerging plan to open a Legacy Virtual High School and expand virtual course access across the district in response to Senate Bill 569’s updated virtual-school provisions.

District leaders said Katy ISD has more than a decade of virtual-course experience, a Canvas learning-management foundation, and robust summer-semester enrollment (about 6,900 unique students taking nearly 15,000 semester courses in summer 2025). The proposed Legacy Virtual High School would offer full-time district enrollment for students who want a virtual diploma pathway and would allow in-district students to retain participation in some home-zone extracurricular programs where practicable.

Staff outlined components of the launch timetable: an October website launch to describe innovative pathways and virtual options, webinars and family Q&A sessions, an adjunct virtual teacher application opening in October, an internal pilot in January to test registration/payment workflows, and course-selection opening in February for spring/fall scheduling. Staff said in-district part-time virtual offerings (e.g., eighth/ninth-period and summer courses) already serve more than 1,600 fall-semester students and that virtual instruction is used to cover teacher vacancies, singleton course needs and specialized programs (Miller, OAC and Raines Academy).

Trustees discussed staffing, pay structures for adjunct virtual instructors, potential enrollment levels and competition from other districts. Staff said the adjunct model would limit adjunct teachers to a small number of sections (three per semester) and the district will evaluate per-course compensation benchmarks (comparable to TXVSN and other providers). The board received the update with no formal action; staff said they will return with operational details and cost estimates for launch.