Tennessee lawmakers are working to keep school districts in the business of offering classes online. But as they do so, they’re staying away from the program’s most notable failure.

The state Senate voted Monday to extend the state’s virtual school program for four more years, clearing the way for schools in Nashville, Chattanooga and elsewhere in Tennessee to remain open into 2019.

The vote represented a departure from the heated debate over the past several years, which has been wrapped around a single institution, a for-profit school called the Tennessee Virtual Academy. Operated by the firm K12 Inc., the school has attracted thousands of students, many from families that homeschool.

But the virtual academy has consistently been rated one of the worst schools in the state. The Haslam administration announced last year that it will close the school this summer unless it improves dramatically.

The Tennessee Virtual Academy has become nearly synonymous with virtual schooling in the minds of many people. 

Rep. Harry Brooks (R-Knoxville) says its performance shouldn’t spoil Tennessee on virtual schools, however. He says each should be judged independently.

“All the schools are doing very well except for one,” he said.

Tennessee has eight other virtual schools, including one run by Metro Nashville Public Schools that specializes in helping high school students complete their diplomas. Brooks’ bill would extend the entire virtual schools program. 

The measure, House Bill 398, doesn’t dictate what would happen to any individual schools, but Brooks says he hasn’t ruled out extending a lifeline to the Tennessee Virtual Academy later in the session. Although he hasn’t filed a bill to do so, he says others could be amended to help the online school.