And while nearly one-quarter of surveyed districts had previously stated there were no plans to operate a virtual school in the 2021–2022 school year, they reported it had “at least some” interest in operating a virtual school in the future. Across the board, the states’ virtual school enrollment saw higher participation among high school students than for elementary and middle school. While traditionally virtual school and homeschool have been considered distinct options, now some families could enroll their children in virtual schools but consider it “homeschool.”Lake added that universal vouchers could be applied toward virtual schools, further expanding its appeal. Those numbers fared slightly better for district-operated virtual schools (66.7 percent) than virtual charter schools (59.4 percent). Future of Virtual SchoolsThe wider-reaching impact of virtual schools may, ironically, be in brick-and-mortar schools themselves.