Distance learning saves district from extinction. (District plus: tips and ideas for successful district leadership).

Three years ago Colorado's Vilas School District faced the proposition of going broke. The tiny district, which served approximately 70 students in 1999, would have been spending more in salaries and administrative costs than it would have gotten if enrollment had dropped any lower. "The only way to increase revenue was to look for people outside the district's boundaries." There was little chance that class size would surge in this remote town, so Endersby and the administrators looked to distance education to boost the budget.

The plan has paid off with a distance education program that has been in the black since its launch in 2000. With a current enrollment of 100 high school students, the program is bringing in $900,000 per year, based a tuition reimbursement of $9,000 per student. To date, Vilas has spent $750,000 on the distance education program. Endersby estimates that distance enrollment will double by next year, while in-class enrollment will total 90 students.

He helped launch the program by reaching out to the unconventional high school student: gifted students, students at risk or pregnant teen girls who wanted to continue their education. "We sent a brochure to all the guidance counselors in Colorado schools and explained what we were doing," he says. He also promoted the program to the state's juvenile services and legal systems. Endersby initially uploaded all the coursework by transferring individual class lessons into HTML code--a task that took 1,000 hours. Vilas has since selected Jones Knowledge to provide Web software, as well as chat and e-mail functions that serve students and teachers.