Approval Process Timeline

Draft Document

The content below is in draft form, and is subject to change. The final version will be posted by January 1, 2010.

Each of the dates listed move to the subsequent business day if they fall on a holiday or weekend. All are 5:00 pm deadlines.

2009-2010 School Year

Key dates

December 5, 2009 – Multidistrict Online Provider criteria and process adopted by rule.

December 31, 2009 – Criteria and provider application form available on DLD website.

Spring 2010 approval cycle

January 31, 2010 – Deadline for providers to submit application form for this review period.

April 1, 2010 – Decisions announced; approved providers list to be updated.

April 22, 2010 – Appeals due for denied providers. Appeal decisions will be made within 45 working days of receipt of the appeal.

Approvals made during this cycle will go into effect in the 2010-2011 school year.

2010-2011 School Year

Fall 2010 approval review cycle

July 1, 2010 – Criteria and provider application form available on DLD website.

September 1, 2010 – Deadline for providers to submit application form for this review period.

November 1, 2010 – Decisions announced; approved providers list to be updated.

November 22, 2010 – Appeals due for denied providers. Appeal decisions will be made within 45 working days of receipt of the appeal.

Approvals made during this cycle will go into effect in the 2011-2012 school year.

2011-2012 School Year

Key dates

Per SSB 5410, beginning with the 2011-12 school year, school districts may claim state basic education funding for students enrolled in online courses or programs only if the courses or programs are:

  • Offered by an approved multi-district online provider; or
  • Offered by a school district online learning program if the program serves students who reside within the geographic boundaries of the school district, including school district programs in which fewer than ten percent of the program's students reside outside the school district's geographic boundaries; or
  • Offered by a regional online learning program where courses are jointly developed and offered by two or more school districts or an educational service district through an interdistrict cooperative program agreement.

Grandfathered providers must be re-approved during the Fall 2011 review cycle in order to maintain approved status.

Fall 2011 approval cycle

September 1, 2011 – Deadline for providers to submit application form for this review period.

November 1, 2011 – Decisions announced; approved providers list to be updated.

November 22, 2011 – Appeals due for denied providers. Appeal decisions will be made within 45 working days of receipt of the appeal.

Approvals made during this cycle will go into effect in the 2012-2013 school year.

Renewals and grandfathering

Approved providers must initiate their renewal no later than the approval cycle in their fourth year of approved status in order to maintain approval for the following year. For example, if a provider is approved on November 1, 2011, the provider must be re-approved on or prior to November 1, 2015. Providers approved during the Spring 2010 review cycle (April 1, 2010) must be re-approved no later than the Fall 2013 review cycle.

All providers grandfathered into approval as of July 26, 2009 under Section 3, item 3 of SSB 5410 must be re-approved no later than August 31st, 2012. Therefore, the provider would need to participate in the Fall 2011 review cycle.

Prior to renewal/approval, grandfathered providers are required to uphold the terms of the assurances section of the provider approval application and to the criteria set forth in SB 5410, section 4. Failure to do so places a grandfathered provider into the rescindment process.