There are a growing number of students in the U.S.  who’s “going to school” now means logging into computers anywhere they are located.

Virtual schools are now entrusted with the education of children as young as kindergarten as an estimated 1.5 million students participate in online education today. Florida, as well as many other states, has started to follow along with this trend.

            Starting with the 2011-2012 school year, ninth graders will need to take an online class to be able to graduate. This new law comes after years of planning. In 1997, the state created Florida Virtual School as an Internet-based public high school. Now it is a state-wide school district, and offers classes from K-12. The Digital Learning Now Law was created to prepare children for a technology-based future, freeing them from classrooms.

Not everyone thinks this new law is such a great idea, but the Legislature did approve it.

“Many students who start off ninth grade already struggle enough trying to adjust to a new school and harder classes. Now they have to worry about getting home and taking another class, said Maria Movilla, a concerned mother. “I mean, they go to school for a reason.”

            Though not everyone agrees, benefits of the law include taking classes that are not offered in the child’s home school and students learning at their own pace. The legislature would save money if using online education and would spend 23 percent less on a student if having them take classes online. The Florida Virtual School says it spends about $2,500 less per student than a traditional school because it does not need to maintain anything like normal schools usually do with money going towards janitors or school food for example. Without the hard costs of buildings, maintenance or transportation, virtual schools clearly can entice districts facing extreme budgetary pressures.

 “I think there are enough core and elective classes that are required for students to take on top of extra curriculars for students to accomplish before we graduate,” said Karen Lopez, a senior at Hialeah Miami Lakes. “Many people might not even have computers or internet so what would happen then?"

            Thousands of families in Miami-Dade and Broward do not own computers or have internet at home, which complicates the use of Virtual School. Families whose child qualifies for a free lunch can access cheap Internet and a voucher toward a discount computer, through a recent national initiative by cable and Internet-provider Comcast.

            Both Miami-Dade and Broward are marching forward with plans to help students meet the new requirements. This year, there will be more than 27,000 ninth-graders in Dade, another 20,000 in Broward.

Last year, Miami-Dade County schools put nearly 7,000 high-school students in virtual classes — which they took from school computer labs — to dodge the state's strict class-size law.  A “facilitator” is assigned to each room to deal with technical problems. These classrooms are called e-learning labs, and were put in place last August to circumvent the limits assigned by the statewide Class Size Reduction Amendment.

            Most of the students who participate in virtual school do so to better their grade point average or their work in normal schools.  Last year, more than 115,000 students across the state took a course with the Florida Virtual School.

“I’m not required to take some classes online but I do it to boost my GPA so I can have it at the highest point, said Jose Hernandez, a sophomore taking up to 3 classes through flvs. “Spanish is a class that isn’t required to graduate but is required to enter a university so it really isn’t required but me, as well as my colleagues, take it... I think it’s great.”

Many will put this new law to good use and many will say it is pointless to take online classes, but in the end virtual school is taking over the way students take classes and taking everyone one step further in the way technology is enhancing the future. This new law might bring less social interaction, less collective learning, and less teachers but it will also bring more profit to be made for the education industry.