UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549

Form 10-K

 

 

Commission File Number: 001-33883

K12 Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Common Stock, $0.0001 par value

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined by Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  Yes o     No þ

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.  Yes o     No þ

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes þ     No o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).  Yes o     No o

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).  Yes o     No þ

 

The aggregate market value of the Registrant’s voting stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant as of December 31, 2008 was approximately $430,331,400.

 

Number of shares outstanding of each class of common equity as of September 9, 2009: 29,448,594 shares of Common Stock.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

 

The registrant has incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K specific portions of its proxy statement for the registrant’s 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held November 18, 2009.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

CERTAIN DEFINITIONS

 

Unless the context requires otherwise, all references in this Report to “K12”, “K¹² “, “Company”, “we”, “our”, “us” refer to K12 Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

 

SPECIAL NOTE ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

This Report on Form 10-K contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We have tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “continues,” “likely,” “may,” “opportunity,” “potential,” “projects,” “will,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends” and similar expressions to identify forward looking statements, whether in the negative or the affirmative. These statements reflect our current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to us. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. These risks, uncertainties, factors and contingencies include, but are not limited to: the reduction of per pupil funding amounts at the schools we serve; reputation harm resulting from poor performance or misconduct of other virtual school operators; challenges from virtual public school opponents; failure of the schools we serve to comply with regulations resulting in a loss of funding; discrepancies in interpretation of legislation by regulatory agencies that may lead to payment or funding disputes; termination of our contracts with schools due to a loss of authorizing charter, failure to renew existing contracts with schools; and increased competition.

 

Forward-looking statements reflect our management’s expectations or predictions of future conditions, events or results based on various assumptions and management’s estimates of trends and economic factors in the markets in which we are active, as well as our business plans. They are not guarantees of future performance. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. There are a number of factors that could cause actual conditions, events or results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements contained in this Report. A discussion of factors that could cause actual conditions, events or results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements appears in “Part 1 — Item 1A — Risk Factors.”

 

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements in this Report or that we make from time to time, and to consider carefully the factors discussed in “Part 1 — Item 1A — Risk Factors” of this Report in evaluating these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are representative only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

 

Our Company

 

We are a technology-based education company. We offer proprietary curriculum and educational services created for online delivery to students in kindergarten through 12th grade, or K-12. Our mission is to maximize a child’s potential by providing access to an engaging and effective education, regardless of geographic location or socio-economic background. Since our inception, we have invested more than $150 million to develop curriculum and an online learning platform that promotes mastery of core concepts and skills for students of all abilities. This learning system combines a cognitive research-based curriculum with an individualized learning approach well-suited for virtual schools and other educational applications. From fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2009, we increased average enrollments in the virtual public schools we serve from approximately 20,000 students to 55,000 students, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 40%. Over the same period, we increased revenues from $116.9 million to $315.6 million, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 39%, and increased EBITDA from $6.8 million to $43.2 million, a compound annual growth rate of approximately 85.2%. Also, over that period, we increased net income from $1.4 million to $12.3 million and operating income from $1.8 million to $22.3 million.

 

We believe we are unique in the education industry because of our direct involvement in every component of the educational development and delivery process. Most educational content, software and service providers typically concentrate on only a portion of that process, such as publishing textbooks, managing schools or providing testing and assessment services. This traditional segmented approach has resulted in an uncoordinated and unsatisfactory education for many students. Unburdened by legacy, we have taken a holistic approach to the design of our learning system. We have developed an engaging curriculum which includes online lessons delivered over our proprietary school platform. We combine this with a rigorous system to test and assess students and processes to manage school performance and compliance. In addition, our professional development programs enable teachers to better utilize technology for instruction. Our end-to-end learning system is designed to maximize the performance of the schools we serve and enhance student academic achievement.

 

As evidence of the benefit of our holistic approach, the virtual public schools we serve generally test near state averages on standardized achievement tests. These results have been achieved despite the enrollment of a significant number of new students each school year who have had limited exposure to our learning system prior to taking these required state tests. Students using our learning system for at least three years usually perform better on standardized tests relative to state averages than students using it for one year or less. The efficacy of our learning system has also helped us achieve high levels of customer satisfaction.

 

We deliver our learning system to students primarily through virtual public schools. As with any public school, these schools must meet state educational standards, administer proctored exams and are subject to fiscal oversight. The fundamental difference is that students attend virtual public schools primarily over the Internet instead of traveling to a physical classroom. In their online learning environment, students receive assignments, complete lessons, and obtain instruction from certified teachers with whom they interact online, telephonically, in virtual classroom environments, and face-to-face. Many states have embraced virtual public schools as a means to provide families with a publicly funded alternative to a traditional classroom-based education. For parents who believe their child is not thriving and for whom relocating or private school is not an option, virtual public schools can provide a compelling choice. This widespread availability makes them the “most public” of schools. From an education policy standpoint, virtual public schools often represent a savings to the taxpayers when compared with traditional public schools because they are generally funded at a lower per pupil level than the per pupil state average reported by the U.S. Department of Education. Finally, because parents are not required to pay tuition, virtual public schools make our learning system available to the broadest range of students.

 

We offer virtual schools our proprietary curriculum, online learning platform and varying levels of academic and management services, which can range from targeted programs to complete turnkey solutions, under long-term contracts. These contracts provide the basis for a recurring revenue stream as students progress through successive grades. Additionally, without the requirement of a physical classroom, virtual schools can be scaled quickly to

accommodate a large dispersed student population, and allow more capital resources to be allocated towards teaching, curriculum and technology rather than towards a physical infrastructure.

 

Substantially all of our enrollments are served through virtual public schools to which we provide either full turnkey solutions or limited management services. For the most part, these schools are able to enroll students on a statewide basis in 23 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, we are serving a growing number of students in programs that typically only accept enrollment from their own district. These district-based alternatives are a response to demand from school districts. We have established a dedicated sales team to focus on this sector. The non-turnkey services we provide to these districts are designed to assist them in launching their own distance learning programs and vary according to the needs of the individual school districts. We offer a student account management system, teacher training programs, administrator support, and student placement support. We also sell our foreign language curriculum to third parties.

 

In addition, Parents can purchase our curriculum and learning solutions directly to facilitate or supplement their children’s education. We also continue to pilot portions of our curriculum in brick and mortar classrooms. Finally, in January 2008 we launched the K¹² International Academy, a private school that we operate using our curriculum. This school is accredited and enables us to deliver our learning system to students worldwide. This school is positioned as a private international school enabling students to interact with others from more than 35 countries.

 

Families that choose our learning system for their children come from a broad range of social, economic and academic backgrounds. They share the desire for an individualized learning program to maximize their children’s potential. Examples include, but are not limited to, families with: (i) students seeking to learn faster or slower than they could in a “one size fits all” traditional classroom; (ii) safety and health concerns about their local school; (iii) students with disabilities for which traditional classrooms are problematic; (iv) students with geographic or travel constraints; and (v) student athletes and performers who are not able to attend regularly scheduled classes. Our individualized learning approach allows students to optimize their individual academic performance and, therefore, their chances of achieving their goals.

 

Our History

 

We were founded in 2000 to utilize the advances in technology to provide children access to a high-quality education regardless of their geographic location or socio-economic background. Given the geographic flexibility of technology-based education, we believed that the pursuit of this mission could help address the growing concerns regarding the regionalized disparity in the quality of public school education, both in the United States and abroad. These concerns were reflected in the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, which implemented new standards and accountability requirements for public K-12 education. The convergence of these concerns and rapid advances in Internet technology created the opportunity to make a significant impact by deploying a high quality learning system on a flexible, online platform.

 

In September 2001, after 18 months of research and development on our curriculum, we launched our kindergarten through 2nd grade offering. We initially launched our learning system in virtual public schools in Pennsylvania and Colorado, serving approximately 900 students in the two states combined. We launched additional grades and entered additional states over the past seven years. We have also developed and launched hybrid programs that combine face-to-face time in a classroom with online instruction. For the 2009-10 school year, we began operating in Oklahoma and Wyoming and now operate in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

 

In October 2007, we acquired Power-Glide Language Courses Inc. (Power-Glide), a provider of online world language courseware. We use these courses in our virtual public schools and believe they have wide applicability in online learning. During fiscal year 2009, we released a significantly upgraded version of the language instructional software. Power-Glide’s trade name was changed to powerspeaK¹² to better reflect the product type and to affiliate the language products with the rest of our course portfolio. The powerspeaK¹² language courses are very popular with our student population. Over 50% of our students in middle and high school are studying a language. We have been successful in growing this business with school districts and charter schools. In July 2009, we signed a five year agreement with Gale Group Inc. (“Gale”). The agreement grants Gale an exclusive right to distribute our adult

language courses to all public libraries in the U.S. We continue to invest in the development of language courses and related technology in anticipation of continued growth in this curriculum category.

 

Finally, over the last four years, we have invested in our logistics, technology and financial infrastructure. We believe these investments provide a platform upon which to continue to grow our business.

 

Our Market

 

The U.S. market for K-12 education is large and growing. For example:

 

 

Parents and lawmakers are demanding increased standards and accountability in an effort to improve academic performance in U.S. public schools. As a result, each state is now required to establish performance standards and to regularly assess student progress relative to these standards. We expect continued focus on academic standards, assessments and accountability in the future.

 

Many parents and educators are also seeking alternatives to traditional classroom-based education that can help improve academic achievement. Demand for these alternatives is evident in the growing number of choices available to parents and students. For example, charter schools emerged in 1988 to provide an alternative to traditional public schools. Currently, 40 states and the District of Columbia have passed charter school legislation and there are approximately 4,600 charter schools in the U.S. with an estimated enrollment of over 1.5 million students according to the Center for Education Reform. Similarly, acceptance of online learning initiatives, including not only virtual schools but also online testing and Internet-based professional development, has become widespread. According to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, as of June 2009, 44 states had established a significant form of online learning initiative, and Alabama became the second state in the country after Michigan to pass legislation mandating that high school students take an online or technology enhanced course in order to graduate. In addition, the current presidential administration has supported charter school growth by linking the removal of restrictions on the growth of charter schools to federal stimulus funding, including “Race to the Top” grants. As a result, many states that have placed enrollment caps or other limitations on charter schools, including online charter schools, are in the process of eliminating or revising such restrictions.

 

Educational Philosophy

 

The design, development and delivery of our learning system is based on the following set of guiding principles:

 

 

 

Ensure Fundamental Content Soundness.  Our credentialed subject matter experts (SMEs) or “Content Specialists” bring their own scholarly and teaching backgrounds to course design and development and are required to maintain relationships with and awareness of guidelines from nearly 40 national and international subject-area associations.

 

Products and Services

 

Our Products

 

K¹² Curriculum

 

Our curriculum consists of the K¹² online lessons, offline learning kits and lesson guides. We have developed an extensive catalogue of proprietary courses, consisting of more than 21,000 lessons, designed to teach concepts to students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Each lesson is designed to last approximately 45 to 60 minutes, although students are able to work at their own pace. A single course generally consists of 120 to 180 individual lessons.

 

Online Lessons.  Our online lessons are accessed through an Online School (OLS) platform. Each online lesson provides the roadmap for the entire lesson including direction to specific online and offline materials, online lesson content and a summary of the major objectives for the lesson. Lessons utilize a combination of innovative technologies including flash animations, audio, video and other online interactivity, coordinated textbooks and hands-on materials and individualized feedback to create an engaging, responsive and highly effective curriculum. Each lesson also contains an online assessment to ensure that students have mastered the material and are ready to proceed to the next lesson, allowing them to work at their own pace. Pronunciation guides for key words and references to suggested additional resources, specific to each lesson and each student’s assessment, are also included.

Offline Learning Kits.  Most of our courses utilize a series of offline learning kits in conjunction with the online lessons to help maximize the effectiveness of our learning system. In addition to receiving access to our online lessons through the Internet, each student receives a shipment of offline materials, including award winning textbooks, art supplies, laboratory supplies (e.g. microscopes and scales) and other reference materials which are incorporated throughout our curriculum. This approach is consistent with our guiding principle to utilize technology where appropriate in our learning system. Most of the textbooks we use are proprietary textbooks that are written in a way that is designed to be engaging to students and to complement the online experience. We believe that our ability to effectively combine online lessons and offline materials is a competitive advantage.

 

Lesson Guides.  Our courses are generally paired with a lesson guide. Lesson guides work in coordination with the online lessons and include the following: overview information for learning coaches, lesson objectives, lesson outlines and activities, answer keys to student exercises and suggestions for explaining difficult concepts to students.

 

 

Courses Offered

 

The following table provides a list of our K-8 and high school course offerings:

 

 

 

Notes: Italicized courses are licensed on a per enrollment basis from third parties for the 2009-10 school year.

 

K-8 Courses.  From kindergarten through 8th grade, our courses are categorized into seven major subject areas: English and Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, History, Art Music, and World Languages. Our proprietary curriculum includes all of the courses that students need to complete their core kindergarten through 8th grade education. These courses focus on developing fundamental skills and teaching the key knowledge building blocks or schemas that each student will need to master the major subject areas, meet state standards and complete more advanced coursework. Unlike a traditional classroom education, our learning system offers the flexibility for each student to take courses at different grade levels in a single academic year, providing flexibility for students to progress at their own level and pace within each subject area. In addition, the flexibility of our learning system allows us to tailor our curriculum to state specific requirements, and to date, we have developed 34 state-specific courses. Beginning in 2009, we have expanded the K-8 offering to include two new Latin middle school courses and continue to offer elementary and middle school world language courses in Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and Latin.

 

High School Courses.  The curriculum sought by students in high school is much broader and varies from student to student, largely as a result of the increased flexibility in course selection required for high school students. In order to offer a full suite of courses, including the many elective courses required to meet the needs of high school students, we offer a combination of our own courses, as well as courses licensed from third parties on either an unlimited use or per-course basis. In the 2009-10 school year, courses owned or licensed on an unlimited use basis will support approximately 90% of total high school course enrollments.

 

Online School Platform

 

Our Online School platform is an intuitive, web-based software platform that provides access to our online lessons as well as our lesson planning and scheduling tools and our progress tracking tool, both of which serve a key role in assisting parents and teachers in managing each student’s progress. Because the OLS is a web-based platform, students, parents and teachers can access our online tools and lessons through the OLS from anywhere with an Internet connection at any time of the day or night. We license a third-party learning management platform for use in our high school program.

 

 

 

 

School Management Systems

 

The Student Administration Management System (SAMS) is our proprietary Student Information System. SAMS is integrated with the OLS and several other proprietary systems including our Online Enrollment System that allows parents to complete school enrollment forms online and our Order Management System (OMS) that generates orders for offline learning kits and computers to be delivered to students. SAMS houses student-specific data and is used for a variety of functions, including enrolling students in courses, assigning progress marks and grades, tracking student demographic data, and generating student transcripts. In 2008, we launched TotalView, a suite of online applications that provides administrators, teachers, parents and students a unified view of student progress, attendance, communications, and learning kit shipment tracking. TotalView provides a sophisticated means of documenting student engagement in required classroom activities, identification of those students struggling with grade level state content standards, and previous year’s performance on state tests. TotalView also houses Kmail, our internal communications medium. Through Kmail, administrators and teachers can communicate electronically with learning coaches and students in a secured environment. Finally, in 2009, TotalView was enhanced to include an enrollment processing and tracking tool that allows us to closely monitor and manage the enrollment process for new students.

 

Student Community Tools

 

We place a strong emphasis on the importance of building a sense of community in the schools we manage. We offer tools that foster communication and interaction among virtual public school students and parents. We launched thebigthinK¹² in the fall of 2008, our secure, online community for enrolled high school students (age 13 and over), parents, teachers, school administrative staff and our staff. It is built using a third party platform and includes the following capabilities: discussion boards, blogs, document repository, calendars, RSS feeds, polls, profiles and private messaging. The community is also professionally monitored by an independent third party. Additionally, our family directory web-based tool enables parents of virtual public school students to organize online and offline social activities for their children. Parents can run searches based on criteria such as their child’s location, age or interests (such as hobbies or sports) to locate and contact other parents of children with similar interests to facilitate student interaction.

 

Our Services

 

We provide a wide array of services to students and their families as well as directly to virtual public schools. Our services can be categorized broadly into academic support services and management and technology services.

 

Academic Support Services

 

Teachers and Related Services.  Teachers are critical to the educational success of students in virtual public schools. Teachers in the virtual public schools that we serve are generally employed by the school, with the ultimate authority over these teachers residing with the school’s governing body. Under our service agreements, we recruit, train and provide management support for these teachers. Historically, we have seen significant demand for teaching positions in the virtual public schools that we serve.

 

We use a rigorous evaluation program for making hiring recommendations to the virtual public schools we serve. We hire teachers who, at a minimum, are state certified and meet the federal requirements for designation as a “Highly Qualified Teacher,” and generally have at least three years of teaching experience. We also seek to recruit teachers who have the skill set necessary to be successful in a virtual public school environment. Teaching in a virtual public school is characterized by heightened one-on-one student-teacher and parent-teacher interaction, so virtual public school teachers must have strong interpersonal communications skills. Additionally, a virtual public school teacher must be creative in finding ways to effectively connect with their students and integrate themselves into the daily lives of the students’ families.

 

New virtual public school teachers participate in our comprehensive training program during which, among other things, they are introduced to our educational philosophy, our curriculum and our OLS and other technology applications, and are provided strategies for communicating and connecting with students and their families in a virtual public school environment. We also provide ongoing professional development opportunities for teachers so that they may stay abreast of changing educational standards, key learning trends, and sound pedagogical strategies which we believe enhance their teaching abilities and effectiveness.

In addition to our compliance with state-mandated testing programs, we have instituted a longitudinal testing program in cooperation with a third party provider of standardized testing services. The results of this testing will help us manage the quality of our academic programs using widely recognized services from an industry leading third party.

 

Gifted and Special Education Services.  We believe that our individualized learning system is able to effectively address the educational needs of gifted and special education students because it is self-paced and employs flexible teaching methods. For students requiring special attention, we employ a national director who is an expert on the delivery of special education services in a virtual public school environment and who oversees and directs the special education programs at the virtual public schools we serve. We direct and facilitate the development and implementation of “individualized education plans” for students with special needs. Our special education program is compliant with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and all state special education requirements. Each special needs student is assigned a certified special education teacher who arranges for any required ancillary services, including speech and occupational therapy, and any required assistive technologies, such as special computer displays or speech recognition software. We support gifted and talented students through our advanced learner program. Advanced learners are able to participate in a wide variety of enrichment seminars, clubs, and mentoring opportunities both at the school level and at the national level. Gifted students are connected to each other across state boundaries through learning circles, book clubs, and other special-interest activities. In addition, parent sessions allow for the discussion of topics unique to the parent of an advanced student.

 

Student Support Services.  We provide students attending virtual public schools that we serve and their families with a variety of support services to ensure that we effectively meet their educational needs and goals. We offer support to address any questions or concerns that students and their parents have during the course of their matriculation. We plan and coordinate social events to offer students opportunities to meet and socialize with their virtual public school peers. Finally, in connection with our high school offering, each student is assigned an advisor and/or a guidance counselor who assists them with academic issues, college and career planning and other support as needed.

 

Management Services

 

Under many of our contracts, we provide virtual public schools with turnkey management services. In these circumstances, we take responsibility for all aspects of the management of the schools, including monitoring academic achievement, teacher hiring and training, compensation of school personnel, financial management, enrollment processing and procurement of curriculum, equipment and required services. In 2007, the Commission on International and Trans-regional Accreditation (CITA), a leading worldwide education accreditation agency, now a division of AdvancED, thoroughly evaluated our school management services and we ultimately received its prestigious accreditation.

 

Compliance and Tracking Services.  Operating a virtual public school entails most of the compliance and regulatory requirements of a traditional public school. We have developed management systems and processes designed to ensure that schools we serve are in compliance with all applicable requirements, including tracking appropriate student information and meeting various state reporting requirements. For example, we collect enrollment related information, monitor attendance and administer proctored state tests. As we have expanded into new states, our processes have grown increasingly robust, and we believe our compliance and tracking processes provide us with a distinct competitive advantage.

 

Financial Support Services.  For the schools we manage, we oversee the preparation of the annual budget and coordinate with the school’s directors to determine their annual objectives. In addition, we implement an internal control framework, develop policies and procedures, provide accounting services and payroll administration, oversee all federal entitlement programs and arrange for external audits.

 

Facility, Operations and Technology Support Services.  We operate administrative offices and all other facilities on behalf of the virtual public schools we serve. We provide these schools with a complete technology infrastructure. In addition, we provide a comprehensive student help desk solution.

 

Human Resources Support Services.  We are actively involved in hiring virtual public school administrators, teachers and staff, through a thorough interview and orientation process. To better facilitate the hiring process, we review and analyze the profiles of teachers that have been highly effective in our learning system to identify the

attributes desired in future new hires. We also negotiate and secure employment benefits for teachers on behalf of virtual public schools and administer employee benefit plans for virtual public school employees. Additionally, we assist the virtual schools we serve in drafting and implementing administrative policies and procedures.

 

Product Development

 

We develop our products and related service offerings through a highly collaborative process that blends cognitive research with an innovative development approach by utilizing best practices from the education industry and other industries. Our approach provides for effective content and rapid time to market. Unlike many traditional content companies that may take several years to develop a new course, our course development process usually takes between six and 12 months, depending upon grade and subject. Our development team includes professionals from the following disciplines:

 

 

Using these highly skilled resources, we follow a six-stage product development process beginning with idea-generation and carrying through to post-production evaluation. Our ability to continually modify our products based upon student, parent and teacher feedback and assessment data is one of the significant advantages of our online curriculum. All of our lessons contain a user feedback button that allows us to identify learning issues on a real-time basis. In a given week, we receive hundreds of feedback items from students, parents and teachers. The related descriptions below illustrate each stage in our product development process.

 

Blueprint Stage.  During this stage of development, we gather the key requirements for a new product, which may be a new course or a group of related courses. We conduct a thorough review to identify all of the cognitive research related to learning of the subject and gain an understanding of the stages a student will go through in mastering the subject material. We also look at how experts perform in the subject. Expert-novice research has shown that an experts’ knowledge of a domain is contained in a subconscious framework, the components of which can help guide the development of a course. During this stage, we also analyze state standards to confirm that we are encompassing the elements of the nation’s highest state standards and that we are building courses which meet or surpass all state standards.

Design Stage.  We begin the design stage by developing the learning environment in which the product will be used. This includes understanding the types of students that will be using the product, how the course will be taught, the learning objectives within the course and what online and offline materials can be utilized. We then produce a design document and our creative teams develop a work plan for every aspect of the product, including the look and feel of the product, level of functionality and length of the course. We produce, test and refine prototypes with focus groups of students, teachers and parents.

 

Pre-production Stage.  With the work plan complete, a pre-production team is assembled to develop the scope and sequence of the course. The scope and sequence is an ordered collection of learning objectives based on cognitive research and state standards. These learning objectives, once organized, guide the production team in the creation of the individual course lessons. The pre-production team also creates the list of materials that will be required and provides this list to our logistics group for sourcing.

 

Production Stage.  During this stage, the product is built in accordance with the work plan. First, manuscripts, storyboards and lesson design specifications are created. Online screens, offline materials such as textbooks, simulations, photographs, and other reference materials are then created, reviewed and refined. Rights for licensed materials are cleared at this point, if needed. Each lesson then goes through a rigorous quality review before being released.

 

Support Stage.  The goal during this stage is to support the initial launch and ongoing utilization of our lessons and to enhance the products during the course of their useful life. We break this stage down into three components: (i) content development, where we design and develop teacher and student training packages; (ii) alignment and standards analysis, where we examine performance on state tests to determine the extent to which we should refine or adjust the standard alignments initially developed during the blueprint stage; and (iii) long-term maintenance, where we maintain and update the online and offline materials on an ongoing basis based upon feedback from teachers, parents and students.

 

Evaluation Stage.  The final stage of the product development cycle is the evaluation stage. During this phase, we evaluate the overall performance of our product against the original design specifications. We obtain measurement feedback from a number of sources, including:

 

 

Using these sources of feedback, we can revise our courses as necessary to achieve the desired learning objectives. We believe that this ability to proactively respond to feedback and other data in an efficient manner is a key competitive advantage within the educational industry.

 

Education Advisory Committee.  To ensure the effectiveness of our learning systems, we have established an external Education Advisory Committee comprised of experienced leaders in the education industry. The members of this Committee have the responsibility to review our curriculum and instructional model, identify the needs of the growing online education market and propose solutions for consideration by our management, and discuss ways that we can better implement our guiding principles. The current members of the Committee include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Channel Development

 

We receive numerous inquiries from school districts, legislators, community leaders, educators and parents who express the desire to offer a virtual public school alternative. Our school development and public affairs groups work together with these interested parties to identify and pursue opportunities to expand the use of our products and services through new channels and in new jurisdictions. Where interested parties seek to offer a virtual public school alternative in their state, our public affairs group works with them to establish the legal framework, advocate for appropriate legislation and explain the educational and fiscal benefits of our learning system. Our public affairs

group also seeks to increase public awareness and ensure transparency in virtual schooling by supporting accountability standards for virtual public schools.

 

Once there is legal and regulatory authorization for, as well as sufficient interest in, a virtual public school, our school development group engages state and school district officials, legislators, community leaders, educators and parent groups seeking to open a virtual public school, and initiates a dialog with these interested parties to explain the steps necessary to pursue this public school alternative in their jurisdiction. Our school development group works with these officials and parent groups in planning, developing and launching the virtual school. We also offer assistance to independent school boards with charter application and authorization processes.

 

After virtual public schools are approved and established, our school development group engages school administrators and maintains relationships with school officials in order to ensure that they are aware of our product and services offerings and that we understand their specific needs and goals.

 

In some states where the regulatory environment restricts or does not permit virtual charter education or state-wide programs, our institutional sales team works with public school districts to offer our services to their students. For example in 2009, Florida passed legislation mandating that each school district provide full-time, online education to students in grades K-8. We responded with a dedicated program and have contracted with 42 Florida school districts to provide online education services to their student population. These contracts vary in their scope and duration; however our curriculum and academic services will be available to more than half of the student population of Florida this fall through cooperation with local schools.

 

Distribution Channels

 

We distribute our products and services primarily to virtual public schools, school districts, private schools, charter schools, and directly to consumers. We derive revenues from virtual public schools by providing access to online lessons, offline learning kits, student computers and a variety of management and academic support services, ranging from turnkey end-to-end management solutions to a single service to meet a school’s specific needs.

 

We have expanded our efforts selling directly to institutional customers or school districts, offering a continuum of offerings from full-time, turnkey online programs, to hybrid programs, to classroom models, to individual course sales. We have established a dedicated sales team to focus on this sector and we believe that the direct-to-district distribution channel offers further growth potential.

 

In fiscal year 2009, we derived more than 10% of our revenues from each of the Ohio Virtual Academy and the Agora Cyber Charter School in Pennsylvania. In aggregate, these schools accounted for 28% of our total revenues. We provide our full turnkey management solutions pursuant to our contracts with the Ohio Virtual Academy, which terminates June 30, 2017, and with the Agora Cyber Charter School (“Agora”), pursuant to a contract with the Cynwyd Group LLC which expires June 30, 2016. However, each of the contracts with these schools also provides for termination of the agreement if the school ceases to hold a valid and effective charter from the charter-issuing authority in their respective states or if there is a material reduction in the per enrollment funding level. In July 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (“PDE”) initiated a charter revocation proceeding against Agora, but Agora will continue to operate in the 2009-10 school year during the pendency of that proceeding. Should the charter be revoked we will explore alternatives to educate these students.

 

Our direct-to-consumer product is purchased through our customer call center or online, by parents who desire to educate their children outside of the public school system or to supplement their child’s existing public school curriculum. The flexibility of our curriculum combined with the assessment capabilities of our online delivery platform enables us to modularize and repackage lesson modules that can be sold as individual products. For example, if a child has particular difficulties with fractions, the parent may purchase our fractions module. The ability to reconfigure individual lessons is highly scalable and we believe this opportunity is significant.

 

In addition to these primary distribution channels, we are pursuing additional channels through which to offer our learning system, including direct classroom instruction and hybrid models. For example, we have piloted select grades and subjects of our curriculum in classrooms in 14 states and the District of Columbia, in addition to international pilots in Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Colombia. Although our in-class offering business is at a nascent stage, we believe that this distribution channel offers significant potential. For example, we have been retained for

the past two years by the Mississippi Department of Education to assist them in the turn-around of three low-performing elementary schools in North Panola. We have implemented hybrid offerings in Chicago, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Muncie and St. Louis, that combine some face-to-face time for students and teachers in a traditional classroom setting along with online instruction. Beyond expanding our offering to new jurisdictions within the United States, we are pursuing international opportunities where we believe there is significant demand for a quality online education.

 

In January 2008, we launched the K¹² International Academy, an online private school which serves students in the U.S. and throughout the world. Through K¹² International Academy, students may study in an academic program which is virtually identical to a U.S.- based private school and leads ultimately to a recognized high school diploma. The school utilizes our curriculum, systems, and teaching practices as the virtual public schools we serve in the U.S. In addition, K¹² International Academy provides a unique international community including clubs and events that enrich the student experience by allowing students to interact with peers from over 35 countries and cultures. The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and AdvancED, and is recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a degree granting institution of secondary learning. K¹² International Academy also has a branch facility in Dubai to reach and support students in the Gulf Cooperating Countries. We operate this through a joint venture with a local partner. K¹² International Academy also provides services to students in the United States and allows for part-time enrollment.

 

Student Recruitment and Marketing

 

Our student recruitment and marketing team is responsible for promoting our corporate brand; generating new student enrollments; managing the direct-to-consumer business; conducting market and customer research; defining, packaging and pricing our product offerings across distribution channels; and enhancing the experience of students and families enrolled in the virtual public schools we serve. This team employs a variety of strategies designed to better understand and address the requirements of our target markets.

 

First, this team is responsible for defining our brand image and associating our brand with the many positive attributes of our learning system. We believe that a strong brand provides the basis for our expansion into new states and other markets.

 

Second, our student recruitment and marketing team generates new enrollments in many of the virtual public schools we serve through targeted recruiting programs, which utilize coordinated direct mailings, email marketing, print, radio and television advertising and search engine marketing. In addition, our marketing team conducts information sessions and workshops that provide teachers and parents with the opportunity to learn our approach to learning and the products and services that we offer. We conducted over 4,200 such events during fiscal year 2009. We have found that effectively communicating the details and benefits of our learning system is an important first step towards building a core group of interested parties. Additionally, we consistently receive a high number of word-of-mouth referrals from our existing customer base. Facilitating our student recruitment and customer service efforts are our call centers. Our primary centers are at our corporate headquarters in Virginia and in Kentucky through a third-party.

 

Third, we conduct primary and secondary research of our own customers as well as of the key larger markets in order to refine our existing product offerings and customer experiences, as well as to scope new target markets and develop appropriate product offerings.

 

Finally, this team is responsible for enhancing our relationship with students enrolled in the virtual public schools that we serve to complement the relationship that these students have with their teachers and school. In order to maintain a sense of community, we host “thebigthinK¹²”, an online private global community limited to those parents, teachers and high school students (age 13 and over), with a valid K¹² password and who are subject to a code of conduct. To ensure appropriate usage and to identify student issues, the community is also professionally monitored by an independent third party. We also work with our partner schools to define and create back-to-school support activities and communications, conduct art contests, host national clubs, facilitate best practices across schools for local clubs and social activities, and manage a parent booster program that helps create support for and awareness of our products and services.

Technology

 

Our learning system, along with our back office systems supporting order management, logistics and e-commerce, are built on our proprietary Service Oriented Architecture, or SOA, to ensure high availability and redundancy and allow flexibility and security to be core principles of our systems’ foundation.

 

Service Oriented Architecture.  All of our systems leverage our SOA built on top of Enterprise Java that separates an implemented capability from a request flow that utilizes those capabilities. This leverage provides us with the ability to deliver different presentations against a single request workflow. Additionally, this flexibility allows iterative solutions to be developed expeditiously to meet both present and future market needs. Our high availability and scalability are also facilitated by this architecture. The SOA also enables seamless integration with third-party solutions in our platform with ease and efficiency.

 

Availability and Redundancy.  Our SOA allows for a hardware topology where primary and secondary equipment can be utilized at all network and application tiers. Each application layer is load balanced across multiple servers, which, along with our sophisticated state management capabilities, allows for additional hardware to be inserted into our network providing us with impressive scalability and availability as evidenced by our greater than 99% uptime with our ever growing user base. We regularly backup critical data and store this backup data at an offsite location.

 

Security.  Our security measures and policies include dividing application layers into multiple zones controlled by firewall technology. Sensitive communications are encrypted between client and server and our server-to-server accessibility is strictly controlled and monitored.

 

Physical Infrastructure.  We utilize the best of breed hardware from industry leading vendors including Cisco, F5, Oracle, Sun, Microsoft, Dell, Intel, and NetApp to provide a foundation for our SOA. Our systems are housed offsite in a state of the art data center that provides robust, redundant network backbone and power. We vigilantly monitor our physical infrastructure for security, availability, and performance.

 

Competition

 

We face varying degrees of competition from a variety of education companies because our learning system encompasses many components of the educational development and delivery process. We compete primarily with companies that provide online curriculum and school support services to K-12 virtual public schools. These companies include Connections Academy, LLC; Kaplan, Inc.; KC Distance Learning Inc.; Insight Schools, Inc.; Plato Learning, Inc.; White Hat Management, LLC, and National Network of Digital Schools among others. We also face competition from curriculum developers, including traditional textbook publishers such as the McGraw-Hill Companies, Pearson plc and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Additionally, we expect increased competition from post-secondary and supplementary education providers that have begun to establish a presence in the K-12 virtual school sector, including Apollo Group and DeVry, Inc.

 

We believe that the primary factors on which we compete are:

 

 

We are unable to provide meaningful data with respect to our market share. At a minimum, we believe that we serve the market for public education, and in almost all jurisdictions in which we operate, we currently serve far less than 1% of the public school students in the geographic area in which virtual school enrollments are drawn. Defining a more precise relevant market upon which to base a share estimate would not be meaningful due to significant limitations on the comparability of data among jurisdictions. For example, some providers to K-12

virtual schools serve only the high school segment, others serve the elementary and middle school segment, and a few serve both. Furthermore, some school districts offer their own virtual programs. Parents in search of an alternative to their local public school also have a number of substitutable choices beyond virtual schools including private schools, charter schools, home schooling, and blended public schools. In addition, our integrated learning system consists of components that face competition from many different education industry segments, such as traditional textbook publishers, test and assessment firms and private education management companies. Finally, our learning system is designed to operate domestically and internationally over the Internet, and thus the geographic addressable market is global and indeterminate in size.

 

Intellectual Property

 

Since our inception, we have invested more than $150 million to develop our proprietary curriculum and OLS. We continue to invest in our intellectual property as we develop more courses for new grades and expand into adjacent education markets, both in the U.S. and overseas. We also continue to add features and tools to our proprietary learning platform and support systems to assist teachers and students and improve educational outcomes. These intellectual property assets are critical to our success and we avail ourselves of the full protections provided under the patent, copyright, trademark and trade secrets laws. We also routinely utilize confidentiality and licensing agreements with our employees, students, the virtual public schools that we serve, direct-to-consumer customers, independent contractors and other businesses and persons with which we have commercial relationships.

 

Our patent portfolio includes issued patents and pending applications directed towards various aspects of our educational products and offerings. In particular, the first family of patent applications we filed, which is directed towards the first generation of our online school, includes one issued U.S. patent (U.S. Patent No. 7,210,938) and one issued Australian patent (Australian Patent No. 2002259159). This family of patent applications also includes five pending U.S. applications and five pending foreign applications covering various aspects of the first generation of our online school. Additionally, we have submitted four U.S. applications and 11 corresponding foreign applications directed towards aspects of our basal math and science program, our hybrid learning environment and our methods of foreign language instruction. Finally, on August 14, 2009, we filed seven new U.S. patent applications directed towards the second generation of our online school.

 

We own the copyright to over 14,000 lessons contained in the courses that make up our proprietary curriculum, including our online lessons and offline learning kits, and we register this growing lesson portfolio with the U.S. Copyright Office as each new course is completed or updated. We own and use the domain names K12 (.com, .org) and K-12 (.com, .net, .org) and we have obtained federal registrations for the trademarks K¹² and Unleash the xPotential. In addition, we have applied to the USPTO to register 10 other trademarks.

 

Students who enroll in the virtual public schools we serve are granted a license to use our software in order to access our learning system. Similarly, virtual public schools are granted a license to use our learning system in order to access SAMS and our other systems. These licenses are intended to protect our ownership and the confidentiality of the embedded information and technology contained in our software and systems. We also own many of the trademarks and service marks that we use as part of the student recruitment and branding services we provide to virtual public schools. Those marks are licensed to the schools for use during the term of the products and services agreements.

 

Our employees, contractors and other parties with access to our confidential information sign agreements that prohibit the unauthorized use or disclosure of our proprietary rights, information and technology.

 

Operations

 

The offline learning kits that accompany our online lessons are an essential component of our courses. A student enrolling in one of our courses receives multiple textbooks, art supplies, laboratory supplies (e.g. microscopes and scales) and other reference materials designed to enhance the learning experience. We package these books and materials into course-specific learning kits. Because each student’s curriculum is customized, the combination of kits for each student must also be customized. In fiscal year 2009, we assembled approximately 8.5 million items into more than 835,000 kits.

Over our eight years of operation, we believe that we have gained significant experience in the fulfillment of offline materials and that this experience provides us with an advantage over many of our current and potential future competitors. We have developed strong relationships with partners allowing us to source goods at favorable price, quality and service levels. Through our fulfillment partner, we store our inventory, build our learning kits and ship the kits to students. We have invested in systems including our Order Management System, to automatically translate the curriculum selected by each enrolled student into an order to build the corresponding learning kit. During fiscal year 2009, working with a new fulfillment partner, we successfully redesigned and implemented a new end-to-end warehousing and fulfillment operation to cost-effectively scale as the business grows in scope and complexity.

 

For many of our virtual public school customers, we attempt to reclaim any materials that are not consumed during the course of the school year. These items, once returned to our fulfillment center, are refurbished and included in future learning kits. This reclamation process allows us to maintain lower materials costs.

 

Our fulfillment activities are highly seasonal, and are centered around the start of school in August or September. Accordingly, approximately 60% of our annual materials receiving occurs between March and May and approximately 65% of customer item fulfillment and shipping occurs between June and September.

 

In order to ensure that students in virtual public schools have access to our OLS, we often provide students with a computer and all necessary support. We source computers and ship them to students when they enroll and reclaim the computers at the end of a school year or upon termination of their enrollment or withdrawal from the virtual public school in which they are enrolled. As of June 30, 2009, we had approximately 37,000 personal computers deployed or available for use by students.

 

Employees

 

As of June 30, 2008, we had 993 employees including 216 teachers. In addition, there are approximately 1,170 teachers who are employed by virtual schools that we manage under turnkey solution contracts with those schools. No K¹² employees are union employees; however, certain virtual public schools we serve employ unionized teachers. We believe that our employee relations are good.

 

We have an agreement with a professional employer organization (PEO), to manage all payroll processing, workers’ compensation, health insurance, and other employment-related benefits for our employees. The PEO is a co-employer of our employees along with us. Although the PEO processes our payroll and pays our workers’ compensation, health insurance and other employment-related benefits, we are ultimately responsible for such payments and are responsible for complying with state and federal employment regulations. We pay the PEO a fee based on the number of employees we have.

 

Available Information

 

Our Company’s Internet address is www.K12.com. We make available, free of charge through our website, our annual reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, soon after they are electronically filed with the SEC. In addition, our earnings conference calls are web cast live via our website. In addition to visiting our website, you may read and copy public reports we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F. Street, NE, Washington DC 20549, or at www.sec.gov. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Information contained on our website is expressly not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K.

REGULATION

 

We and the virtual public schools that purchase our curriculum and management services are subject to regulation by each of the states in which we operate, including Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Florida, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, California, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Oregon, South Carolina, Indiana, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Wyoming and the District of Columbia. The state laws and regulations that directly impact our business are those that authorize or restrict our ability to operate virtual public schools, and those that restrict virtual public school growth and funding. In addition, there are state laws and regulations that are applicable to virtual public schools that indirectly affect our business insofar as they affect these virtual public schools’ ability to operate and receive funding. Finally, to the extent a virtual school obtains federal funds, such as through a grant program or financial support dedicated for the education of low-income families, these schools then become subject to additional federal regulation.

 

State Laws Authorizing or Restricting Virtual Public Schools.  The authority to operate a virtual public school is dependent on the laws and regulations of each state. Laws and regulations vary significantly from one state to the next and are constantly evolving. In states that have implemented specific legislation to support virtual public schools, the schools are able to operate under these statutes. Other states provide for virtual public schools under existing charter school legislation or provide that school districts and/or state education agencies may authorize them. Some states do not currently have legislation that provides for virtual public schools or have requirements that effectively prohibit virtual public schools and, as a result, may require new legislation before virtual public schools can open in the state. According to a June 2009 update of state online learning policies by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (“iNACOL”), there are 44 states that have either adopted legislation or formal rules or have created programs for the purpose of providing statewide supplemental and/or full-time online learning opportunities. We currently serve virtual schools or school district-led programs in 23 states plus the District of Columbia. iNACOL also identified only six states that do not currently have either a state-led program or significant state-level policies for online education; however, the absence of such conditions has not precluded us from applying to serve, and in certain cases serving, schools in some of those states.

 

Obtaining new legislation in these remaining states can be a protracted and uncertain process despite their limited number. When determining whether to pursue expansion into new states in which the laws are ambiguous, we research the relevant legislation and political climate and then make an assessment of the perceived likelihood of success before deciding to commit resources. Specifically, we take into account numerous factors including, but not limited to, the regulations of the state educational authorities, whether the overall political environment is amenable to school choice, whether current funding levels for virtual school enrollments are adequate and accessible, and the presence of non-profit and for-profit competitors in the state.

 

State Laws and Regulations Applicable to Virtual Public Schools.  Virtual public schools that purchase our curriculum and management services are often governed and overseen by a non-profit or a local or state education agency, such as an independent charter school board, local school district or state education authority. We generally receive funds for products and services rendered to operate virtual schools under detailed service agreements with that governing authority. Virtual public schools are typically funded by state or local governments on a per student basis. A virtual school that fails to comply with the state laws and regulations applicable to it may be required to repay these funds and could become ineligible for receipt of future state funds.

 

To be eligible for state funding, some states require that virtual schools be organized under not-for-profit charters exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The schools must then be operated exclusively for charitable educational purposes, and not for the benefit of private, for-profit management companies. The board or governing authority of the not-for-profit virtual school must retain ultimate accountability for the school’s operations to retain its tax-exempt status. It may not delegate its responsibility and accountability for the school’s operations. Our service agreements with these virtual schools are therefore structured to ensure the full independence of the not-for-profit board and preserve its ability to exercise its fiduciary obligations to operate a virtual public school.

 

Laws and regulations affect many aspects of operating a virtual public school. They can dictate the content and sequence of the curriculum, the requirements to earn a diploma, use of approved textbooks, the length of the school year and the school day, the assessment of student performance, and any accountability requirements. In addition, a virtual public school may be obligated to comply with states’ requirements to offer programs for specific

populations, such as students at risk of dropping out of school, gifted and talented students, non-English speaking students, pre-kindergarten students, and students with disabilities. Tutoring services and the use of technology may also be regulated. Other state laws and regulations may affect the school’s compulsory attendance requirements, treatment of absences and make-up work, and access by parents to student records and teaching and testing materials. Additionally, states have various requirements concerning the reporting of extensive student data that may apply to the school. A virtual public school may have to comply with state requirements that school campuses report various types of data as performance indicators of the success of the program.

 

States have laws and regulations concerning certification, training, experience and continued professional development of teachers and staff with which a virtual public school may be required to comply. There are also numerous laws pertaining to employee salaries and benefits, statewide teacher retirement systems, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, and matters related to employment agreements and procedures for termination of school employees. A virtual public school must also comply with requirements for performing criminal background checks on school staff, reporting criminal activity by school staff and reporting suspected child abuse.

 

As with any public school, virtual public schools must comply with state laws and regulations applicable to governmental entities, such as open meetings laws, which may require the board of trustees of a virtual public school to hold its meetings open to the public unless an exception in the law allows an executive session. Failure to comply with these requirements may lead to personal civil and/or criminal penalties for board members or officers. Virtual public schools must also comply with public information or open records laws, which require them to make school records available for public inspection, review and copying unless a specific exemption in the law applies. Additionally laws pertaining to records privacy and retention and to standards for maintenance of records apply to virtual public schools.

 

Other types of regulation applicable to virtual public schools include restrictions on the use of public funds, the types of investments made with public funds, the collection of and use of student fees, and controlling accounting and financial management practices.

 

There remains uncertainty about the extent to which virtual public schools we serve may be required to comply with state laws and regulations applicable to traditional public schools because the concept of virtual public schools is relatively new. Although we receive state funds indirectly, according to the terms of each service agreement with the local public school entity, our receipt of state funds subjects us to extensive state regulation and scrutiny. Several states have commenced audits, some of which are still pending, to verify enrollment, attendance, fiscal accountability, special education services, and other regulatory issues. While we may believe that a virtual public school we serve is compliant with state law, an agency’s different interpretation of law in a particular state could result in non-compliance, potentially affecting funding.

 

Regulations Restricting Virtual Public School Growth and Funding.  As a new public schooling alternative, some state and regulatory authorities have elected to proceed cautiously with virtual public schools while providing opportunities for taxpayer families seeking this alternative. Regulations that control the growth of virtual public schools range from prescribing the number of schools in a state to limiting the percentage of time students may receive instruction online. Funding regulations can also have this effect.

 

Regulations that hinder our ability to serve certain jurisdictions include: restrictions on student eligibility, such as mandating attendance at a traditional public school prior to enrolling in a virtual public school; caps on the total number of students in a virtual school; restrictions on grade levels served; geographic limitations on enrollments; fixing the percentage of per pupil funding that must be paid to teachers; mandating teacher: student ratios; state-specific curriculum requirements; and limits on the number of charters that can be granted in a state.

 

Funding regulations for virtual schools can take a variety of forms. These regulations include: (i) attendance — some state daily attendance rules were designed for traditional classroom procedures and applying them to track daily attendance and truancy in an online setting can cause disputes to arise over interpretation and funding; (ii) enrollment eligibility— some states place restrictions on the students seeking to enroll in virtual schools, resulting in lower aggregate funding levels; and (iii) teacher contact time — some states have regulations that specify minimum levels of teacher-student face-to-face time, which can create logistical challenges for statewide virtual schools, reduce funding and eliminate some of the economic, academic and technological advantages of virtual learning.

Federal and State Grants.  We have worked with certain entities to secure public and grant funding that flows to virtual public schools that we serve. These grants are awarded to the not-for-profit entity that holds the charter of the virtual public school on a competitive basis in some instances and on an entitlement basis in other instances. Grants awarded to public schools and programs — whether by a federal or state agency or nongovernmental organization — often include reporting requirements, procedures, and obligations.

 

Five primary federal laws are directly applicable to the day-to-day provision of educational services we provide to virtual public schools:

 

 

Another provision of NCLB requires public school programs to ensure that all teachers are highly qualified. A highly qualified teacher means one who has: (1) obtained full state certification or licensure as a teacher and who has not had certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary or provisional basis; (2) obtained a bachelor’s degree; and (3) demonstrated competence in the academic subject the teacher teaches. All teacher aides working in a school supported with Title I funds must be highly qualified which means the person must have a high school diploma or its equivalent and one of the following: completed at least two years of study in an institution of higher education, obtained an associate’s or higher degree, or met a rigorous standard of quality demonstrated through a formal state or local assessment. Virtual public schools using our products and services may be required to meet these requirements for any persons who perform instructional services.

 

Virtual schools that receive Title I funding and use our products and services may be required to provide parents of Title I students with a variety of notices regarding the teachers and teachers aides that teach their children. In addition, if these schools serve limited English proficient (LEP) children, they may be required to provide a variety of notices to the parents regarding the identification of the student as LEP and certain information about the instruction to be provided to the student, as well as the right to remove or refuse to enroll the student in the LEP program. Finally, these schools may also be required annually to develop, with input from parents of Title I students, and implement a written policy on parental involvement in the education of their children, to hold annual meetings with these parents and to provide these parents with assistance in various areas to help the parents to work with their children to improve student achievement.

 

Under NCLB, even schools that do not receive Title I funding must provide certain notices to parents. For example, schools may be required to provide a school report card and identify whether any school has been identified as needing improvement and for how long. Parents also must be provided data that will be used to

determine adequate yearly progress. Virtual public schools may be contacted by military recruiters who have the right to access the names, addresses and telephone numbers of secondary school students for military recruiting purposes. Additionally, virtual public schools may be required to notify parents that they have the option to request that this information not be released to military recruiters or to institutions of higher education.

 

 

 

If we fail to comply with other federal laws, including federal civil rights laws not specific to education programs, we could be determined ineligible to receive funds from federal programs or face criminal or civil penalties.

 

 

Risks Related to Government Funding and Regulation of Public Education

 

Most of our revenues depend on per pupil funding amounts remaining near the levels existing at the time we execute service agreements with the virtual public schools we serve. If those funding levels are materially reduced due to economic conditions or political opposition, new restrictions adopted or payments delayed, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected.

 

The public schools we contract with are financed with government funding from federal, state and local taxpayers. Our business is primarily dependent upon those funds. Budget appropriations for education at all levels of government are determined through the political process, which may also be affected by conditions in the economy at large, such as the current severe recession in the U.S. that began in 2008. As a result, funding for the virtual public schools we serve may decline. The political process and general economic conditions create a number of risks that could have an adverse affect on our business including the following:

 

 

Economic conditions could reduce state education funding for all public schools, and could be disproportionate for the virtual public schools we serve. For example, while budget and funding decisions normally occur on an annual or bi-annual basis, the current economic recession has caused a departure from the normal process in some states. During our fiscal year 2009, several states enacted mid-year funding cuts for public education, affecting the virtual public schools we serve. In addition, we are aware of state budget appropriations involving funding reductions for public education that will affect some of the virtual public schools we serve for the 2009-10 school year.

 

 

The poor performance or misconduct of other virtual public school operators could tarnish the reputation of all virtual public school operators, which could have a negative impact on our business.

 

As a relatively new form of public education, virtual school operators will be subject to scrutiny, perhaps even greater than that applied to traditional public schools or charter schools. Not all virtual public school operators will have successful academic programs or operate efficiently, and new entrants may not perform well either. Such underperforming operators could create the impression that virtual schooling is not an effective way to educate students, whether or not our learning system achieves solid performance. Moreover, some virtual school operators have been subject to governmental investigations alleging the misuse of public funds or financial irregularities. These allegations have attracted significant adverse media coverage and have prompted legislative hearings and regulatory responses. Although these investigations have focused on specific companies and individuals, they may negatively impact public perceptions of virtual public school providers generally, including us. The precise impact of these negative public perceptions on our business is difficult to discern, in part because of the number of states in which we operate and the range of particular malfeasance or performance issues involved. We have incurred significant lobbying costs in several states advocating against harmful legislation which, in our opinion, was aggravated by negative media coverage of particular virtual school operators. If these few situations, or any additional misconduct, cause all virtual public school providers to be viewed by the public and/or policymakers unfavorably, we may find it difficult to enter into or renew contracts to operate virtual schools. In addition, this perception could serve as the impetus for more restrictive legislation, which could limit our future business opportunities.

 

Opponents of virtual public schools have sought to challenge the establishment and expansion of such schools through the judicial process. If these interests prevail, it could damage our ability to sustain or grow our current business or expand in certain jurisdictions.

 

We have been, and will likely continue to be, subject to lawsuits filed against virtual public schools by those who do not share our belief in the value of this form of public education. Legal claims have involved challenges to the constitutionality of authorizing statutes, methods of instructional delivery, funding provisions and the respective roles of parents and teachers. For example, in Illinois v. Chicago Virtual Charter School, 06 CH 20955 (Cook County) (July 11, 2009), the Chicago Teacher’s Union and other plaintiffs’ claimed that the instructional model of the Chicago Virtual Charter School violated the prohibition against home-based charter schools under Illinois law.. The Court did not agree and dismissed the claims on summary judgment.

 

The failure of the virtual public schools we serve to comply with applicable government regulations could result in a loss of funding and an obligation to repay funds previously received, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Once authorized by law, virtual public schools are generally subject to extensive regulation. These regulations cover specific program standards and financial requirements including, but not limited to: (i) student eligibility standards; (ii) numeric and geographic limitations on enrollments; (iii) prescribed teacher funding allocations from per pupil revenue; (iv) state-specific curriculum requirements; and (v) restrictions on open-enrollment policies by and among districts. State and federal funding authorities conduct regular program and financial audits of virtual public schools, including the virtual public schools we serve, to ensure compliance with applicable regulations. If a virtual public school we serve is found to be noncompliant, it can be barred from receiving additional funds and could be required to repay funds received during the period of non-compliance, which could impair that school’s ability to pay us for services in a timely manner, if at all. Additionally, the indemnity provisions in our standard service agreements with virtual public schools may require us to return any contested funds on behalf of the school.

 

Virtual public schools are relatively new, and enabling legislation therefore is often ambiguous and subject to discrepancies in interpretation by regulatory authorities, which may lead to disputes over our ability to invoice and receive payments for services rendered.

 

Statutory language providing for virtual public schools is sometimes interpreted by regulatory authorities in ways that may vary from year to year, making compliance subject to uncertainty. More issues normally arise during our first few school years of doing business in a state because the enabling legislation often does not address specific

issues, such as what constitutes proper documentation for enrollment eligibility in a virtual school. We normally work through these issues and come to an agreement with the regulatory authorities on these details, although from time to time, there are changes to the regulators’ approach to determining the eligibility of virtual school students for funding purposes. Another example may be differing interpretations on what constitutes a student’s substantial completion of a semester in a public school. These regulatory uncertainties may lead to disputes over our ability to invoice and receive payments for services rendered, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

The operation of virtual public schools depends on the maintenance of the authorizing charter and compliance with applicable laws. If these charters are not renewed, our contracts with these schools would be terminated.

 

In many cases, virtual public schools operate under a charter that is granted by a state or local authority to the charter holder, such as a community group or an established not-for-profit corporation, which typically is required by state law to qualify for student funding. In fiscal year 2009, approximately 88% of our revenues were derived from virtual public schools operating under a charter. The service agreement for these schools is with the charter holder or the charter board. Non-profit charter schools qualifying for exemption from federal taxation under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) as charitable organizations must also operate in accordance with Internal Revenue Service rules and policies to maintain that status and their funding eligibility. In addition, all state charter school statutes require periodic reauthorization. While none of the virtual public schools we serve have failed to maintain their authorizing charter, if a virtual public school we serve fails to maintain its tax-exempt status and funding eligibility, or if its charter is revoked for non-performance or other reasons that may be due to actions of the independent charter board completely outside of our control, our contract with that school would be terminated. For example, in July 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of Education instituted charter revocation proceedings against the Agora Cyber Charter School based on allegations of charter violations and non-compliance with state charter school and other laws by the independent charter board, even though the PDE had no complaints against us.

 

Actual or alleged misconduct by our senior management and directors would make it more difficult for us to enter into new contracts or renew existing contracts.

 

If any of our directors, officers or key employees are accused or found to be guilty of serious crimes, including the mismanagement of public funds, the schools we serve could be barred from entering into or renewing service agreements with us or otherwise discouraged from contracting with us and, as a result, our business and revenues would be adversely affected.

 

Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry

 

We have a limited operating history, and sustained cumulative net losses of approximately $90 million before only recently achieving profitability. If we fail to remain profitable or achieve further marketplace acceptance for our products and services, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

 

The virtual public schools we serve began enrolling students in the 2001-02 school year. As a result, we have only a limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. Since our inception, we recorded cumulative net losses totaling approximately $90 million until we achieved profitability in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006. There can be no assurance that we will remain profitable, or that our products and services will achieve further marketplace acceptance. Our marketing efforts may not generate a sufficient number of student enrollments to sustain our business plan; our capital and operating costs may exceed planned levels; and we may be unable to develop and enhance our service offerings to meet the demands of virtual public schools and students to the extent that such demands and preferences change. For example, the current recession in the U.S. economy has led to lower tax revenues and reductions in state educational budgets which may negatively impact a virtual charter school’s offerings and student enrollments. If we are not successful in managing our business and operations, our financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

Highly qualified teachers are critical to the success of our learning system. If we are not able to continue to recruit, train and retain quality certified teachers, our curriculum might not be effectively delivered to students, compromising their academic performance and our reputation with the virtual public schools we serve. As a result, our brand, business and operating results may be adversely affected.

 

Effective teachers are critical to maintaining the quality of our learning system and assisting students with their daily lessons. Teachers in virtual public schools must be state certified and have strong interpersonal communications skills to be able to effectively instruct students in a virtual school setting. They must also possess the technical skills to use our technology-based learning system. There is a limited pool of teachers with these specialized attributes and the virtual public schools we serve must provide competitive compensation packages to attract and retain such qualified teachers.

 

The teachers in most virtual public schools we serve are not our employees and the ultimate authority relating to those teachers resides with the governing body overseeing the schools. However, under many of our service agreements with virtual public schools, we have responsibility to recruit, train and manage these teachers. We must also provide continuous training to virtual public school teachers so that they can stay abreast of changes in student demands, academic standards and other key trends necessary to teach online effectively. We may not be able to recruit, train and retain enough qualified teachers to keep pace with our growth while maintaining consistent teaching quality in the various virtual public schools we serve. Shortages of qualified teachers or decreases in the quality of our instruction, whether actual or perceived, would have an adverse effect on our business.

 

The schools we contract with and serve are governed by independent governing bodies who may shift their priorities or change objectives in ways adverse to us.

 

We contract with and provide a majority of our products and services to virtual public schools governed by independent boards or similar governing bodies. While we typically share a common objective at the outset of our business relationship, over time our interests could diverge. If these independent boards of the schools we serve subsequently shift their priorities or change objectives, and as a result reduce the scope or terminate their relationship with us, our ability to generate revenues would be adversely affected.

 

Our contracts with the virtual public schools we serve are subject to periodic renewal, and each year several of these agreements are set to expire. If we are unable to renew several such contracts or if a single significant contract expires during a given year, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow could be adversely affected.

 

We have contracts to provide our full range of products and services to virtual public schools in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Several of these contracts are scheduled to expire in any given year. For example, four such contracts are scheduled to expire in fiscal year 2010, and we usually begin to engage in renewal negotiations during the final year of these contracts. In order to renew these contracts, we have to enter into negotiations with the independent boards of these virtual public schools. Historically we have been successful in renewing these contracts, but such renewals typically contain revised terms, which may be more or less favorable then the terms of the original contract. For example, a school in Pennsylvania reduced the term of its contract from five years to three years when renewing its contract in 2006, but when renewing again in 2009, extended the term to 10 years. Similarly, a school in Colorado increased the term of its contract from five years to 10 years upon renewal in 2009. While we have no reason to believe that schools with valid charters will not continue to renew their contracts upon expiration, we recognize that each renegotiation is unique and, if we are unable to renew several such contracts or one significant contract expiring during a given year, or if such renewals have significantly less favorable terms than existing contracts, or an underlying charter is revoked or not renewed, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow could be adversely affected.

We generate significant revenues from two virtual public schools, and the termination, revocation, expiration or modification of our contracts with these virtual public schools could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operation.

 

In fiscal year 2009, we derived more than 10% of our revenues from each of the Ohio Virtual Academy and the Agora Cyber Charter School in Pennsylvania. In aggregate, these schools accounted for 28% of our total revenues. If our contracts with any of these virtual public schools are terminated, the charters to operate any of these schools are not renewed or are revoked, enrollments decline substantially, funding is reduced, or more restrictive legislation is enacted, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

 

If student performance falls, NCLB standards are not achieved, or parent and student satisfaction declines, a significant number of students may not remain enrolled in a virtual public school that we serve, and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

 

The success of our business depends on a family’s decision to have their child continue his or her education in a virtual public school that we serve. This decision is based on many factors, including student achievement and parent and student satisfaction. Students may perform significantly below state averages or the virtual school may fail to meet the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act (“NCLB”). Not all of the virtual public schools we serve meet the Adequate Yearly Progress requirements of NCLB, as large numbers of new enrollments from students underperforming in traditional schools can drag down overall results or the underperformance of any one subgroup can lead to the entire school failing to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress. We expect that, as our enrollments increase and the portion of students that have not used our learning system for multiple years increases, the average performance of all students using our learning system may decrease, even if the individual performance of other students improves over time. Moreover, Congress may amend the NCLB statute in ways that positively or negatively impact the schools we serve. Finally, parent and student satisfaction may decline as not all parents and students are able to devote the substantial time and energy necessary to complete our curriculum. A student’s satisfaction may also suffer if his or her relationship with the virtual school teacher does not meet expectations. If a student’s performance or satisfaction declines, students may decide not to remain enrolled in a virtual public school that we serve and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

 

We may not be able to effectively address the execution risks associated with our expansion into the virtual high school market. Our failure to do so could substantially harm our growth strategy.

 

Our continued expansion into virtual high schools presents us with a number of challenges and an evolving array of risks that could affect our financial condition, results of operations and growth strategy. We have recently developed and are continuing to develop new proprietary high school curriculum, and we are currently using third-party platforms and some third-party curriculum in our high school offering. If the quality of our newly developed proprietary curriculum, third-party curriculum or platforms is unsatisfactory, student enrollments could decline. In addition, our inability to scale high school operations or achieve productivity improvements could reduce our operating margins.

 

Our growth strategy anticipates that we will create new products and distribution channels, expand existing distribution channels and pilot innovative educational programs to enhance academic performance. If we are unable to effectively manage these initiatives or they fail to gain acceptance, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows would be adversely affected.

 

As we create new products and distribution channels, expand our existing distribution channels and pilot new educational programs, we expect to face challenges distinct from those we currently encounter, including:

 

 

 

Our failure to manage these new distribution channels, or any new distribution channels we pursue, may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

 

Increasing competition in the market segments that we serve could lead to pricing pressures, reduced operating margins, loss of market share, departure of key employees and increased capital expenditures.

 

We face varying degrees of competition from several discrete education providers because our learning system integrates all the elements of the education development and delivery process, including curriculum development, textbook publishing, teacher training and support, lesson planning, testing and assessment, and school performance and compliance management. We compete most directly with companies that provide online curriculum and support services to K-12 virtual public schools. Additionally, we expect increased competition from for-profit post-secondary and supplementary education providers that have begun to offer virtual high school curriculum and services. In certain jurisdictions and states where we currently serve virtual public schools, we expect intense competition from existing providers and new entrants. Our competitors may adopt similar curriculum delivery, school support and marketing approaches, with different pricing and service packages that may have greater appeal in the market. If we are unable to successfully compete for new business, win and renew contracts or maintain current levels of academic achievement, our revenue growth and operating margins may decline. Price competition from our current and future competitors could also result in reduced revenues, reduced margins or the failure of our product and service offerings to achieve or maintain more widespread market acceptance.

 

We may also face direct competition from publishers of traditional educational materials that are substantially larger than we are and have significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources. As a result, they may be able to devote more resources to develop products and services that are superior to our platform and technologies. We may not have the resources necessary to acquire or compete with technologies being developed by our competitors, which may render our online delivery format less competitive or obsolete. These new and well-funded entrants may also seek to attract our key executives as employees based on their acquired expertise in virtual education where such specialized skills are not widely available.

 

Our future success will depend in large part on our ability to maintain a competitive position with our curriculum and our technology, as well as our ability to increase capital expenditures to sustain the competitive position of our product and retain our talent base. We cannot assure you that we will have the financial resources, technical expertise, marketing, distribution or support capabilities to compete effectively.

 

If demand for increased options in public schooling does not continue or if additional jurisdictions do not authorize or adequately fund virtual public schools, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

 

For the 2006-07 school year, we served schools in 17 states. For the 2009-10 school year, we will serve schools in 23 states. If the demand for virtual public schools does not increase, if additional jurisdictions do not authorize new virtual schools or if the funding of such schools is inadequate, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuations, which may cause our operating results to fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter and adversely impact the market price of our common stock.

 

Our revenues and operating results normally fluctuate as a result of seasonal variations in our business, principally due to the number of months in a fiscal quarter that our virtual public schools are fully operational and serving students. In the typical academic year, our first and fourth fiscal quarters have fewer than three full months of operations, whereas our second and third fiscal quarters will have three complete months of operations. We ship offline learning kits to students in the beginning of the school year, our first fiscal quarter, generally resulting in higher offline learning kit revenues and margins in the first fiscal quarter relative to the other quarters. In aggregate, the seasonality of our revenues has generally produced higher revenues in the first quarter of our fiscal year.

 

Our operating expenses are also seasonal. Instructional costs and services increase in the first fiscal quarter primarily due to the costs incurred to ship offline learning kits at the beginning of the school year. These instructional costs may increase significantly quarter-to-quarter as school operating expenses increase. The majority of our selling and marketing expenses are incurred in the first and fourth fiscal quarters, as our primary enrollment season is July through September.

 

We expect quarterly fluctuations in our revenues and operating results to continue. These fluctuations could result in volatility and adversely affect our cash flow. As our business grows, these seasonal fluctuations may become more pronounced. As a result, we believe that quarterly comparisons of our financial results may not be reliable as an indication of future performance.

 

Our revenues for a fiscal year are based in part on our estimate of the total funds each school will receive in a particular school year and our estimate of the full year deficits to be incurred by each school. As a result, differences between our estimates and the actual funds received and deficits incurred could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and cash flows.

 

We recognize revenues from certain of our fees ratably over the course of our fiscal year. To determine the amount of revenues to recognize, we estimate the total funds each school will receive in a particular school year. Additionally, we take responsibility for any operating deficits at most of the virtual schools we serve. Because these operating deficits may impair our ability to collect the full amount invoiced in a period and collection cannot reasonably be assured, we reduce revenues by the estimated amount of these deficits. We review our estimates of total funds and operating deficits periodically, and we revise as necessary, amortizing any adjustments over the remaining portion of the fiscal year. Actual funding received and operating deficits incurred may vary from our estimates or revisions and could adversely impact our results of operation and cash flows.

 

The continued development of our brand identity is important to our business. If we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand, our business and operating results may suffer.

 

Expanding brand awareness is critical to attracting and retaining students, and for serving additional virtual public schools. In order to expand brand awareness, we intend to spend significant resources on a brand-enhancement strategy, which includes sales and marketing efforts directed to targeted locations as well as the national marketplace, the educational community at large, key political groups, image-makers and the media. We believe that the quality of our curriculum and management services has contributed significantly to the success of our brand. As we continue to increase enrollments and extend our geographic reach, maintaining quality and consistency across all of our services and products may become more difficult to achieve, and any significant and well-publicized failure to maintain this quality and consistency will have a detrimental effect on our brand. We cannot provide assurances that our new sales and marketing efforts will be successful in further promoting our brand in a competitive and cost effective manner. If we are unable to further enhance our brand recognition and increase awareness of our products and services, or if we incur excessive sales and marketing expenses, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our intellectual property rights are valuable, and any inability to protect them could reduce the value of our products, services and brand.

 

Our patent, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, domain names and other intellectual property rights are important assets for us. For example, we have been granted two patents relating to the hardware and network infrastructure of our online school, including the system components for creating and administering assessment tests and our lesson progress tracker. Additionally, we are the copyright owner of over 14,000 lessons in the courses comprising our proprietary curriculum and we have registered copyrights or filed copyright applications that cover nearly all of these lessons. Various events outside of our control pose a threat to our intellectual property rights. For example, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which our products and services are distributed or made available through the Internet. Also, the efforts we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be sufficient or effective. Any significant impairment of our intellectual property rights could harm our business or our ability to compete. Also, protecting our intellectual property rights is costly and time consuming. Any unauthorized use of our intellectual property could make it more expensive to do business and harm our operating results.

 

Although we seek to obtain patent protection for our innovations, it is possible that we may not be able to sufficiently protect some of these innovations. In addition, given the costs of obtaining patent protection, we may choose not to protect certain innovations that later turn out to be important. Furthermore, there is always the possibility, despite our efforts, that the scope of the protection gained will be insufficient or that an issued patent may be deemed invalid or unenforceable.

 

We also seek to maintain certain intellectual property as trade secrets. This secrecy could be compromised by outside parties, or by our employees intentionally or accidentally, which would cause us to lose the competitive advantage resulting from these trade secrets. Third parties may acquire domain names that are substantially similar to our domain names leading to a decrease in the value of our domain names and trademarks and other proprietary rights.

 

We may be sued for infringing the intellectual property rights of others and such actions would be costly to defend, could require us to pay damages and could limit our ability or increase our costs to use certain technologies in the future.

 

Companies in the Internet, technology, education, curriculum and media industries own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and frequently enter into litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. As we grow, the likelihood that we may be subject to such claims also increases. Regardless of the merits, intellectual property claims are time-consuming and expensive to litigate or settle. In addition, to the extent claims against us are successful, we may have to pay substantial monetary damages or discontinue any of our products, services or practices that are found to be in violation of another party’s rights. We also may have to seek a license and make royalty payments to continue offering our products and services or following such practices, which may significantly increase our operating expenses.

 

We may be subject to legal liability resulting from the actions of third parties, including independent contractors, business partners, or teachers, which could cause us to incur substantial costs and damage our reputation.

 

We may be subject, directly or indirectly, to legal claims associated with the actions of or filed by our independent contractors, business partners, or teachers. In the event of accidents or injuries or other harm to students, we could face claims alleging that we were negligent, provided inadequate supervision or were otherwise liable for their injuries. Additionally, we could face claims alleging that our independent curriculum contractors or teachers infringed the intellectual property rights of third parties. A liability claim against us or any of our independent contractors, business partners, or teachers could adversely affect our reputation, enrollment and revenues. Even if unsuccessful, such a claim could create unfavorable publicity, cause us to incur substantial expenses and divert the time and attention of management.

Unauthorized disclosure or manipulation of student, teacher and other sensitive data, whether through breach of our network security or otherwise, could expose us to costly litigation or could jeopardize our contracts with virtual public schools.

 

Maintaining our network security and internal controls over access rights is of critical importance because our Student Administration Management System (SAMS) stores proprietary and confidential student and teacher information, such as names, addresses, and other personal information. Individuals and groups may develop and deploy viruses, worms and other malicious software programs that attack or attempt to infiltrate SAMS.

 

If our security measures are breached as a result of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise, third parties may receive or be able to access student records and we could be subject to liability or our business could be interrupted. Penetration of our network security could have a negative impact on our reputation and could lead virtual public schools and parents to choose competitive offerings. As a result, we may be required to expend significant resources to provide additional protection from the threat of these security breaches or to alleviate problems caused by these breaches. Additionally, we run the risk that employees or vendors could illegally disclose confidential educational information.

 

We rely on the Internet to enroll students and to deliver our products and services to children, which exposes us to a growing number of legal risks and increasing regulation.

 

We collect information regarding students during the online enrollment process, and a significant amount of our curriculum content is delivered over the Internet. As a result, specific federal and state laws that could have an impact on our business include the following:

 

 

In addition, the laws applicable to the Internet are still developing. These laws impact pricing, advertising, taxation, consumer protection, quality of products and services, and are in a state of change. New laws may also be enacted, which could increase the costs of regulatory compliance for us or force us to change our business practices. As a result, we may be exposed to substantial liability, including significant expenses necessary to comply with such laws and regulations.

 

System disruptions and vulnerability from security risks to our online computer networks could impact our ability to generate revenues and damage our reputation, limiting our ability to attract and retain students.

 

The performance and reliability of our technology infrastructure is critical to our reputation and ability to attract and retain virtual public schools, parents and students. Any sustained system error or failure, or a sudden and significant increase in bandwidth usage, could limit our users’ access to our learning system, and therefore, damage our ability to generate revenues or provide sufficient documentation to comply with state laws requiring proof that students completed the required number of hours of instruction. Our technology infrastructure could be vulnerable to interruption or malfunction due to events beyond our control, including natural disasters, terrorist activities and telecommunications failures.

We utilize a single logistics vendor for the management, receiving and shipping of all of our offline learning kits and printed educational materials. In addition, we utilize another vendor for the reclamation and redeployment of our student computers. Both of these partnerships depend upon execution on the part of us and the vendors. Any material failure to execute properly for any reason, including damage or disruption to either of the vendor’s facilities would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Substantially all of the inventory for our offline learning kits and printed materials is located in one warehouse facility operated by a third-party logistics vendor which handles receipt, assembly, and shipping of all physical learning materials. If this logistics vendor were to fail to meet its obligations to deliver learning materials to students in a timely manner, or if such shipments are incomplete or contain assembly errors, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected. We contracted with a new materials logistics vendor beginning with the current school year and while the transition has gone smoothly to date, any significant problems with this vendor’s performance would adversely affect our business and results of operations. In addition, we provide computers for a substantial number of our students. Execution failures which interfere with the reclamation or redeployment of computers may result in additional costs. Furthermore, a natural disaster, fire, power interruption, work stoppage or other unanticipated catastrophic event, especially during the period from May through September when we have received most of the curriculum materials for the school year and have not yet shipped such materials to students, could significantly disrupt our ability to deliver our products and operate our business. If any of our material inventory were to experience any significant damage, we would be unable to meet our contractual obligations and our business would suffer.

 

Any significant interruption in the operations of our data center could cause a loss of data and disrupt our ability to manage our network hardware and software and technological infrastructure.

 

We host our products and serve all of our students from a third-party data center facility. While we are developing a risk mitigation plan, such a plan may not be able to prevent a significant interruption in the operation of this facility or the loss of school and operational data due to a natural disaster, fire, power interruption, act of terrorism or other unanticipated catastrophic event. Any significant interruption in the operation of this facility, including an interruption caused by our failure to successfully expand or upgrade our systems or manage our transition to utilizing the expansions or upgrades, could reduce our ability to manage our network and technological infrastructure, which could result in lost sales, enrollment terminations and impact our brand reputation.

 

Additionally, we do not control the operation of this facility and must rely on a third-party to provide the physical security, facilities management and communications infrastructure services related to our data center. Although we believe we would be able to enter into a similar relationship with another third-party should this relationship fail or terminate for any reason, our reliance on a third-party vendor exposes us to risks outside of our control. If this third-party vendor encounters financial difficulty such as bankruptcy or other events beyond our control that causes it to fail to secure adequately and maintain its hosting facilities or provide the required data communications capacity, students of the virtual public schools we serve may experience interruptions in our service or the loss or theft of important customer data.

 

Any significant interruption in the operations of our call center could disrupt our ability to respond to service requests and process orders and to deliver our products in a timely manner.

 

Our primary call center operations are housed in two facilities, one in Virginia and one through a vendor in Kentucky. We have limited call center operations in Arizona and Utah. While we are developing a risk mitigation plan, such a plan may not be able to prevent a significant interruption in the operation of either facility due to natural disasters, accidents, failures of the inventory locator or automated packing and shipping systems we use or other events. Any significant interruption in the operation of either primary facility, including an interruption caused by our failure to successfully expand or upgrade our systems or to manage these expansions or upgrades, could reduce our ability to respond to service requests, receive and process orders and provide products and services, which could result in lost and cancelled sales, and damage to our brand reputation.

Capacity limits on some of our technology, transaction processing systems and network hardware and software may be difficult to project and we may not be able to expand and upgrade our systems in a timely manner to meet significant unexpected increased demand.

 

As the number of virtual public schools we serve increases and our student base grows, the traffic on our transaction processing systems and network hardware and software will rise. We may be unable to accurately project the rate of increase in the use of our transaction processing systems and network hardware and software. In addition, we may not be able to expand and upgrade our systems and network hardware and software capabilities to accommodate significant unexpected increased use. If we are unable to appropriately upgrade our systems and network hardware and software in a timely manner, our operations and processes may be temporarily disrupted.

 

We may be unable to manage and adapt to changes in technology.

 

We will need to respond to technological advances and emerging industry standards in a cost-effective and timely manner in order to remain competitive. The need to respond to technological changes may require us to make substantial, unanticipated expenditures. There can be no assurance that we will be able to respond successfully to technological change.

 

We may be unable to attract and retain skilled employees.

 

Our success depends in large part on continued employment of senior management and key personnel who can effectively operate our business. If any of these employees leave us and we fail to effectively manage a transition to new personnel, or if we fail to attract and retain qualified and experienced professionals on acceptable terms, our business, financial conditions and results of operations could be adversely affected.

 

Our success also depends on our having highly trained financial, technical, recruiting, sales and marketing personnel. We will need to continue to hire additional personnel as our business grows. A shortage in the number of people with these skills or our failure to attract them to our Company could impede our ability to increase revenues from our existing products and services and to launch new product offerings, and would have an adverse effect on our business and financial results.

 

We may not be able to effectively manage our growth, which could impair our ability to operate profitably.

 

We have experienced significant expansion since our inception, which has sometimes strained our managerial, operational, financial and other resources. A substantial increase in our enrollment or the addition of new schools in a short period of time could strain our current resources and increase capital expenditures, without an immediate increase in revenues. Our failure to successfully manage our growth in a cost efficient manner and add and retain personnel to adequately support our growth could disrupt our business and decrease profitability.

 

We may need additional capital in the future, but there is no assurance that funds will be available on acceptable terms.

 

We may need to raise additional funds in order to achieve growth or fund other business initiatives. This financing may not be available in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us and may be dilutive to existing stockholders. Additionally, any securities issued to raise funds may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing stockholders. If adequate funds are not available or are not available on acceptable terms, our ability to expand, develop or enhance services or products, or respond to competitive pressures will be limited.

 

Our curriculum and approach to instruction may not achieve widespread acceptance, which would limit our growth and profitability.

 

Our curriculum and approach to instruction are based on the structured delivery, clarification, verification and practice of lesson subject matter. The goal of this approach is to make students proficient at the fundamentals and to instill confidence in a subject prior to confronting new and complex concepts. This approach, however, is not accepted by all academics and educators, who may favor less formalistic methods. Accordingly, some academics

and educators are opposed to the principles and methodologies associated with our approach to learning, and have the ability to negatively influence the market for our products and services.

 

Although we do not currently transact a material amount of business in a foreign country, we intend to expand into international markets, which will subject us to additional economic, operational, legal and political risks that could increase our costs and make it difficult for us to continue to operate profitably.

 

One of our growth strategies is to pursue international opportunities that leverage our current product and service offerings. The addition of international operations may require significant expenditure of financial and management resources and result in increased administrative and compliance costs. As a result of such expansion, we will be increasingly subject to the risks inherent in conducting business internationally, including:

 

 

 

None.

 

 

The Company’s headquarters are located in approximately 104,000 square feet of office space in Herndon, Virginia. The property is leased until April 2013. The Company leases approximately 49,000 square feet in multiple locations under individual leases that expire between July 2009 and July 2013.

 

 

In the ordinary conduct of our business, we are subject to lawsuits, arbitrations and administrative proceedings from time to time.

 

We are currently involved in two lawsuits related to a charter revocation proceeding brought by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (the “PDE”) against the Agora Cyber Charter School (“Agora”). In 2006, Agora contracted with an education management company, The Cynwyd Group LLC (“Cynwyd”), to operate the school. Cynwyd, in turn, subcontracted with us to provide Agora’s students with our curriculum, as well as our school administrative and technology support services. The PDE charter revocation proceeding is the result of an investigation in which the agency concluded that the Agora Board of Trustees, the school’s independent governing authority, violated its charter by contracting with Cynwyd without the PDE’s approval, and that state funds have been misused to benefit personally Cynwyd’s sole owner, due to her financial and business ties to members of the Agora Board of Trustees. The PDE investigation found no wrongdoing by us. In Re Agora Cyber Charter School, No. 2009-01. In addition, the PDE directed that all funds from school districts with students attending Agora be placed in a state escrow account from which the PDE will approve all payments to Agora and its vendors, including Cynwyd and us.

On June 25, 2009, Agora filed a “Complaint for Accounting” against our subsidiary K12 Pennsylvania L.L.C. in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas, Agora Cyber Charter School v. K12 Pennsylvania L.L.C., No. 2009-07375-CA. The complaint seeks no monetary damages from us, but an order compelling us to account for payments that we may have made outside the state escrow from a bank account that we administer for Agora as part of the K12-Cynwyd agreement. On July 22, 2009, we filed our Preliminary Objections and requested that the Complaint for Accounting be dismissed with prejudice. On June 29, 2009, Cynwyd filed a breach of contract lawsuit against us in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, The Cynwyd Group, L.L.C. v. K12 Pennsylvania L.L.C., Civil Action No. 09-2963. Cynwyd asserts that we failed to perform certain school administrative functions specified in the Cynwyd-K12 services agreement, including a failure to remit to Cynwyd management fees of approximately $2 million. Accordingly, Cynwyd claims direct damages of $2 million and unspecified consequential damages. On August 10, 2009, we filed our “Answer to Plaintiff’s Complaint and Counterclaims Against Plaintiff, and Third Party Complaint.” Beyond being subject to instruction from the PDE not to pay the Cynwyd management fee without PDE’s prior approval, we also asserted counterclaims against both Cynwyd and Agora. Those counterclaims include counts for breach of contract and abuse of process, and we seek direct and consequential damages in amounts to be determined at trial. While the two above-mentioned lawsuits against us, individually or combined, are not material to our business, when considered in conjunction with the PDE charter revocation proceeding and other lawsuits by Agora against PDE, our ability to continue to provide our services and curriculum to Agora beyond the 2009-2010 school year depends on how all of these interrelated matters are ultimately resolved. At this time, the cases have just commenced. In addition, some of the fees owed to us for FY 2009 services rendered to Agora have been delayed and remain in the state escrow account pending approval by the PDE. Subsequent to June 30, 2009, PDE released a significant portion of the funds owed to K12. We believe the remaining amount will be received although no timetable has been communicated.

 

On October 4, 2006, the Chicago Teachers Union and individual taxpayers (“CTU” or “plaintiffs”) filed a citizen taxpayer’s lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County challenging the decision of the Illinois State Board of Education to certify the Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS) and to enjoin the disbursement of state funds to the Chicago Board of Education under its contract with the CVCS. On June 11, 2009, the Court granted the CVCS’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the case. The plaintiffs elected not to appeal the decision, thus establishing the legal right of CVCS to continue operations and receive state funding.

 

 

None.

 

Set forth below is certain information concerning our executive officers as of June 30, 2009:

 

 

Ronald J. Packard, Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Director

 

Ronald J. Packard founded K12 in 2000. Previously, Mr. Packard served as Vice President of Knowledge Universe and he served as Chief Executive Officer of Knowledge Schools, a provider of early childhood education and after school companies. Mr. Packard has also held positions at McKinsey & Company and Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, Mr. Packard served on the Advisory Board of the Department of Defense Schools from 2002 to 2008, and is a member of the Fairfax Education Foundation Board of Directors. Previously, Mr. Packard served as a director of Academy 123 and Zumbox. Mr. Packard holds B.A. degrees in Economics and Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and he was a Chartered Financial Analyst.

 

John F. Baule, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer

 

John F. Baule joined us in March 2005, and serves as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Mr. Baule spent five years at Headstrong, a global consultancy services firm, first serving as Senior Vice President of Finance from 1999 until 2001 and later as Chief Financial Officer from 2001 to 2004. Prior to Headstrong, Mr. Baule worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) from 1990 to 1999, initially joining their corporate internal audit division. He then spent six years with BMS based in the Asia Pacific region, first as the Director of Finance for BMS Philippines, and then as the Regional Finance Director for BMS Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong. He later served as Director of International Finance for the BMS Nutritional Division. Mr. Baule began his career working in the audit services practice at KPMG from 1986 to 1990. Mr. Baule holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from the College of William and Mary and he is a Certified Public Accountant.

 

Bruce J. Davis, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Business Development

 

Bruce J. Davis joined us in January 2007, and serves as Executive Vice President Worldwide Business Development. From 2005 until joining us, Mr. Davis was Sr. Vice President of Business Development for Laureate Education Inc. with focus on the Middle East region. From 2003 to 2004 Mr. Davis was a strategic advisor to Discovery Communications where he developed plans for Discovery’s entry into the education video market and the creation of the United Streaming product. From 1994 to 2002 Mr. Davis held various positions with Sylvan Learning Systems including Principal at Sylvan Ventures, Chief Operating Officer of Prometric and Vice President of International Operations. From 1985 to 1991, Mr. Davis was a Manager with Deloitte and Touche’s Information Systems Strategy group where he managed their practice office in Egypt and served clients including USAID, the Department of State, and the Marine Corps. Mr. Davis holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Loyola University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

 

George B. (“Chip”) Hughes, Jr., Executive Vice President, School Services

 

George B. (“Chip”) Hughes, Jr. joined us in July 2007, and serves as Executive Vice President, School Services. From 1997 until joining us, Mr. Hughes was a co-founder and Managing Director of Blue Capital Management, L.L.C., a middle-market private equity firm. Mr. Hughes previously served as a Partner of

McKinsey & Company, Inc., a global management consulting firm, in McKinsey’s Los Angeles and New Jersey offices, where he was a member of the firm’s Strategy and Health Care practices. Mr. Hughes serves on the National Board and the Executive Committee of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, and on the Board of Councilors of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences at the University of Southern California. Previously he was a member of the Board of Trustees at Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles and of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Morris, Bergen, and Passaic Counties (New Jersey). Mr. Hughes holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

 

Howard D. Polsky, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

 

Howard D. Polsky joined us in June 2004, and serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Mr. Polsky previously held the position of Vice President and General Counsel of Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications from 2000 to 2002. Prior to its acquisition by Lockheed Martin, Mr. Polsky worked at COMSAT Corporation from 1992 to 2000, initially serving as Vice President and General Counsel of COMSAT’s largest operating division, and subsequently was promoted to the executive management team as Vice President of Federal Policy and Regulation. From 1983 to 1992, Mr. Polsky was a partner at Wiley, Rein & Fielding after being at Kirkland & Ellis from 1979 to 1983. Mr. Polsky started his legal career at the Federal Communications Commission in 1976. Mr. Polsky received a B.A. in Government from Lehigh University, and a J.D. from Indiana University.

 

Celia M. Stokes, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

 

Celia M. Stokes joined us in March 2006, and serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Before joining K12, Ms. Stokes served as Vice President of Marketing at Independence Air from 2003 to 2006. Previously, Ms. Stokes ran her own marketing firm providing consulting services to organizations such as Fox TV, PBS, the National Gallery of Art, JWalter Thompson, and ADP. From 1993 to 1998, Ms. Stokes served in successive roles leading to Vice President of Marketing at Bell Atlantic and at a joint venture of Bell Atlantic and two other Regional Bell Operating Companies. From 1990 to 1993, Ms. Stokes was Manager of Marketing at Software AG, and from 1988 to 1990, was Client Group Manager at Targeted Communications, an Ogilvy & Mather Direct company. Ms. Stokes holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.

 

Howard L. Allentoff, Senior Vice President, Human Resources

 

Howard L. Allentoff joined us in December 2008 and serves as Senior Vice President, Human Resources. Dr. Allentoff previously was Consultant & President of Strategic People Solutions (SPS) where he assisted companies of all types in both strategic and operational human resources issues. Prior to SPS, Dr. Allentoff worked at Blackboard as the company’s first Vice President of Human Resources. He also worked in other human resources consulting roles as well as in corporate HR environments at Prometric (formerly of Sylvan and Thomson Learning), Ward Machinery and Westinghouse. He holds a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park as well both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from Auburn University.

 

 

The Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “LRN.” Set forth below are the high and low sales prices for our common stock, as reported on the NYSE. As of September 3, 2009, there were approximately 66 registered holders of common stock.

 

Stock Performance Graph

 

The graph below matches the cumulative 19-month total return of holders of K12 Inc.’s common stock with the cumulative total returns of the S&P 500 index, the NASDAQ Composite index, the Russell 2000 index and a customized peer group of seventeen companies. The graph assumes that the value of the investment in the company’s common stock, in each index, and in the peer group (including reinvestment of dividends) was $100 on December 13, 2007 and tracks it through June 30, 2009.

 

COMPARISON OF 19 MONTH CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN
Among K12 Inc., S&P 500 Index, NASDAQ Composite Index, Russell 2000 Index and a Peer Group

 

 

 

All prices reflect closing prices on last day of trading at the end of each calendar month except December 13, 2007.

 

Peer Group

 

Apollo Group Inc., Capella Education Company, Career Education Corp., Corinthian Colleges Inc., Devry Inc., Strayer Education Inc., ITT Educational Services, New Oriental Education, American Public Education Inc., Lincoln Educational Services, Universal Technical Institute, Renaissance Learning, Scientific Learning, SkillSoft, BlackBoard, McGraw-Hill, and Scholastic.

 

Dividend Policy

 

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and we currently do not anticipate paying any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Instead, we anticipate that all of our earnings on our common stock will be used to provide working capital, to support our operations, and to finance the growth and development of our business, including potentially the acquisition of, or investment in, businesses, technologies or products that complement our existing business. Any future determination relating to dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our future earnings, capital requirements, financial condition, future prospects, applicable Delaware law, which provides that

dividends are only payable out of surplus or current net profits and other factors our board of directors might deem relevant.

 

Stock-based Incentive Plan Information

 

The following table provides certain information as of June 30, 2009, with respect to our equity compensation plans under which Common Stock is authorized for issuance:

 

Equity Compensation Plan Information
as of June 30, 2009

 

 

 

 

The 2007 Equity Incentive Award Plan (the 2007 Plan) adopted in November 2007 contains an “evergreen provision” that allows for an annual increase in the number of shares available for issuance under the 2007 Plan on July 1 of each year during the ten-year term of the 2007 Plan, beginning on July 1, 2008. The annual increase in the number of shares shall be equal to the least of:

 

 

Sales of unregistered securities

 

None.

 

The following table sets forth our selected consolidated statement of operations, balance sheet and other data as of the dates and for the periods indicated. You should read this data together with “Item 7 — Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes, included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The selected consolidated statement of operations data for each of the years in the three-year period ended June 30, 2009, and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2009 and 2008, have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The selected consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended June 30, 2006 and 2005, and selected consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2007, 2006 and 2005, have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The pro forma net income per common share amounts for the years ended June 30, 2008 and June 30, 2007 were derived by eliminating the one-time tax benefit of $27.0 million from the reversal of the deferred tax valuation allowance in 2008 and by giving effect to the automatic conversion of all of our outstanding shares of our preferred stock into common stock immediately prior to the completion of our initial public offering. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of future operating results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following table provides a reconciliation of net income (loss) to EBITDA:

 

 

 

 

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Historical results may not indicate future performance. Our forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events, are based on assumptions, and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Factors that may cause differences between actual results and those contemplated by forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those discussed in “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A, of this Annual Report. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, including any changes that might result from any facts, events, or circumstances after the date hereof that may bear upon forward-looking statements. Furthermore, we cannot guarantee future results, events, levels of activity, performance, or achievements.

 

This MD&A is intended to assist in understanding and assessing the trends and significant changes in our results of operations and financial condition. As used in this MD&A, the words, “we,” “our” and “us” refer to K12 Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. This MD&A should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in this annual report on form 10-K (Annual Report). The following overview provides a summary of the sections included in our MD&A:

 

 

Executive Summary

 

We are a technology-based education company. We offer proprietary curriculum and educational services created for online delivery to students in kindergarten through 12th grade, or K-12. Our mission is to maximize a child’s potential by providing access to an engaging and effective education, regardless of geographic location or socio-economic background. Since our inception, we have invested more than $150 million to develop curriculum and an online learning platform that promotes mastery of core concepts and skills for students of all abilities. This learning system combines a cognitive research-based curriculum with an individualized learning approach well-suited for virtual schools and other educational applications. From fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2009, we increased average enrollments in the virtual public schools we serve from approximately 20,000 students to 55,000 students, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 40%. Over the same period, we increased revenues from $116.9 million to $315.6 million, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 39%, and increased EBITDA from $6.8 million to $43.2 million, a compound annual growth rate of approximately 85%. Over the same timeframe, we went from a net income of $1.4 million to net income of $12.3 million, and from an operating income of $1.8 million to operating income of $22.3 million.

 

We deliver our learning system to students primarily through virtual public schools. Many states have embraced virtual public schools as a means to provide families with a publicly funded alternative to a traditional classroom-based education. We offer virtual schools our proprietary curriculum, online learning platform and varying levels of academic and management services, which can range from targeted programs to complete turnkey solutions, under long-term contracts. These contracts provide the basis for a recurring revenue stream as students

progress through successive grades. Additionally, without the requirement of a physical classroom, virtual schools can be scaled quickly to accommodate a large dispersed student population, and allow more capital resources to be allocated towards teaching, curriculum and technology rather than towards a physical infrastructure.

 

Our proprietary curriculum is currently used primarily by public school students in 23 states and the District of Columbia, including two new states approved for the Fall of 2009. Parents can also purchase our curriculum and online learning platform directly to facilitate or supplement their children’s education. Additionally, we have piloted our curriculum in brick and mortar classrooms with promising academic results. We also believe there is additional widespread applicability for our learning system internationally.

 

Our History

 

We were founded in 2000 to utilize the advances in technology to provide children access to a high-quality public school education regardless of their geographic location or socio-economic background. Given the geographic flexibility of technology-based education, we believed that the pursuit of this mission could help address the growing concerns regarding the regionalized disparity in the quality of public school education, both in the United States and abroad. These concerns were reflected in the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, which implemented new standards and accountability requirements for public K-12 education. The convergence of these concerns and rapid advances in Internet technology created the opportunity to make a significant impact by deploying a high quality learning system on a flexible, online platform.

 

In September 2001, after 18 months of research and development on our curriculum, we launched our kindergarten through 2nd grade offering. We initially launched our learning system in virtual public schools in Pennsylvania and Colorado, serving approximately 900 students in the two states combined. We launched additional grades and entered additional states over the past seven years. We have also developed and launched hybrid programs that combine face-to-face time in the classroom with online instruction. For the 2008-09 school year, we operated in 21 states as set forth in the table below. For the 2009-10 school year, we have been approved to operate in Oklahoma and Wyoming bringing the total states were we operate to 23.

 

The following table sets forth the enrollment, grade level, and new state by school year:

 

 

In October 2007, we acquired all of the stock of Power-Glide, a provider of online language courseware, for $4.1 million in shares of common stock and the assumption of liabilities. We use these courses in our virtual public schools and believe they have wide applicability in online learning.

 

In December 2007, we completed an initial public offering (IPO) of our common stock in which we sold and issued 4,450,000 shares of our common stock, at an issue price of $18.00 per share. We raised a total of

$80.1 million in gross proceeds from the IPO, or approximately $71.0 million in net proceeds after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and other offering costs of $9.1 million. Concurrently with the closing of the IPO and at the initial public offering price, we sold shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $15.0 million to a non-U.S. person, in a private placement transaction outside the United States in reliance upon Regulation S under the Securities Act. This non-U.S. person is affiliated with our Middle East joint venture partner.

 

In January 2008, we launched the K¹² International Academy, an accredited, online private school which serves students in the U.S. and throughout the world. In August 2008, we established a joint venture with a Middle East partner. The purpose of the joint venture is to develop and manage the distribution of our learning system in the Gulf Cooperating Countries. The K12 International Academy has a branch facility in Dubai, operated under this joint venture. Our investment into this joint venture consists of $1 million in cash and contributed assets in return for a 66.7% ownership interest. Our Middle East partner contributed $5 million in cash in return for a 33.3% ownership interest.

 

We believe we have significant growth potential. Therefore, over the last four years, we have put a great deal of effort into developing the infrastructure necessary to scale our business. We further enhanced our logistics and technological infrastructure and implemented sophisticated financial systems to allow us to more effectively operate a large and growing company.

 

Key Aspects and Trends of Our Operations

 

Revenues

 

We generate a significant portion of our revenues from enrollments in virtual public schools. In each of the past five years, more than 90% of our revenues have been derived through contracts with these schools. We anticipate that these revenues will continue to represent the bulk of our total revenues over the next 12-24 months, although the percentage may decline over the longer term as we identify new channels through which to market our curriculum and educational services. These contracts provide the channels through which we can enroll students into the school, and we execute marketing and recruiting programs designed to create awareness and generate enrollments for these schools. We generate our revenues by providing each student with access to our online lessons and offline learning kits, including use of a personal computer. In addition, we provide a variety of management and academic support services to virtual public schools, ranging from turnkey end-to-end management solutions to a single service to meet a school’s specific needs. We also generate revenues from sales of our curriculum and offline learning kits through other channels, including directly to consumers and pilots in a traditional classroom environment.

 

Factors affecting our revenues include: (i) the number of enrollments; (ii) the nature and extent of the management services provided to the schools and school districts; (iii) state or district per student funding levels; and (iv) prices for our products and services.

 

We define an enrollment as a full-time student using our provided courses as their primary curriculum regardless of the nature and extent of the management services we provide to the virtual public school. Generally, students will take five or six courses, except for some kindergarten students who may participate in half-day programs. We count each half-day kindergarten student as an enrollment.

 

School sessions generally begin in August or September and end in May or June. We consider the duration of a school year to be 10 months. To ensure that all schools are reflected in our measure of enrollments, we consider the number of students on the last day of September to be our opening enrollment level, and the number of students enrolled on the last day of May to be our ending enrollment level. To provide comparability, we do not consider enrollment levels for June, July and August as most schools are not open during these months. For each period, average enrollments represent the average of the month-end enrollment levels for each month that has transpired between September and the end of the period, up to and including the month of May. We continually evaluate our enrollment levels by state, by school and by grade. We track new student enrollments and withdrawals throughout the year.

 

We believe that the number of enrollments depends upon the following:

 

 

 

In fiscal year 2009, we continued our annual enrollment growth by 34.5%, adding 14,103 students to total average fiscal year 2008 enrollments of 40,859. We did this by a process that combines replacing students who have withdrawn and adding new enrollments to attain our rate of growth. We continually evaluate our trends in revenues by monitoring the number of enrollments in total, by state, by school and by grade, assessing the impact of changes in funding levels and the pricing of our curriculum and educational services. We track enrollments throughout the year, as students enroll and withdraw. We also provide our courses for use in a traditional classroom setting and we sell our courses directly to consumers. Our classroom course revenues are generally for single courses. Consumers typically purchase from one to six courses in a year, however, we do not monitor the progress of these students. Our K ¹² International Academy can enroll students on a full or part-time basis. While we believe this offering has significant long-term opportunity, we anticipate the level of revenues and enrollments will be immaterial for FY 2010. Therefore, we do not include classroom, consumer or international academy students in our enrollment totals.

 

We closely monitor the financial performance of the virtual public schools to which we provide turnkey management services. Under the contracts with these schools, we take responsibility for any operating deficits that they may incur in a given school year. These operating deficits represent the excess of costs over revenues incurred by the virtual public schools as reflected on their financial statements. The costs include our charges to the schools. These operating deficits may result from a combination of cost increases or funding reductions attributable to the following: 1) costs associated with new schools including the initial hiring of teachers, administrators and the establishment of school infrastructure; 2) school requirements to establish contingency reserves; 3) one-time costs such as a legal claim; 4) funding reductions due to the inability to qualify specific students for funding; and 5) regulatory or academic performance thresholds which may restrict the ability of a school to fund all expenses. In these cases, because a deficit may impair our ability to collect our invoices in full, we reduce revenues by the sum of these deficits. These deficits and the related reduction to revenues have grown substantially faster than overall revenue growth. We expect these deficits to continue to grow faster than overall revenue growth as we expand into new states, continue investment in educational programs, and incur the higher costs associated with our high school offering.

 

Our annual growth in revenues may be materially affected by changes in the level of management services we provide to certain schools. Currently a significant portion of our enrollments are associated with virtual public schools to which we provide turnkey management services. We are responsible for the complete management of these schools and therefore, we recognize as revenues the funds received by the schools, up to the level of costs incurred. These costs are substantial, as they include the cost of teacher compensation and other ancillary school expenses. Accordingly, enrollments in these schools generate substantially more revenues than enrollments in other schools where we provide limited or no management services. In these situations, our revenues are limited to invoiced amounts and are independent of the total funds received by the school from a state or district. As a result, changes in the number of enrollments associated with schools operating under turnkey arrangements relative to total enrollments may have a disproportionate impact on average revenues per enrollment and growth in revenues relative to the growth in enrollments.

 

The percentage of enrollments associated with turnkey management service schools, or managed schools, was 85% for the year ended June 30, 2009 as compared to 82% for the year ended June 30, 2008. This increase was primarily attributable to the enrollments at new schools in South Carolina, Hawaii, Oregon, and Indiana as well as enrollment growth in existing managed schools. Changes in the mix of enrollments associated with turnkey management services compared with limited management services may change the average revenues per enrollment and accordingly impact total revenues. As we renew our existing management contracts, the extent of the management services we provide may change. Our turnkey management contracts have terms from three to ten years. We are providing turnkey management services to new schools in Oklahoma and Wyoming in 2010. We have also added several contracts to provide only our curriculum and limited services to individual school districts. Consequently, we anticipate that the percentage of enrollments associated with turnkey management services will

remain relatively stable for fiscal year 2010 as compared to the prior year. Considered in isolation, this would cause average revenues per enrollment to be relatively stable in fiscal year 2010 as compared to fiscal year 2009.

 

In fiscal year 2009, we derived more than 10% of our revenues from each of the Ohio Virtual Academy and the Agora Cyber Charter School in Pennsylvania. In aggregate, these schools accounted for 28% of our total revenues. We provide our full turnkey management solution pursuant to our contract with the Ohio Virtual Academy, which terminates June 30, 2017. We provide our full turnkey solution to the Agora Cyber Charter School, pursuant to a contract with the Cynwyd Group which expires June 30, 2016. Each of the contracts with these schools provides for termination of the agreement if the school ceases to hold a valid and effective charter from the charter-issuing authority in their respective states or if there is a material reduction in the per enrollment funding level. The annual revenues generated under each of these contracts represent a material portion of our total revenues in fiscal year 2009 and we expect this to continue in fiscal year 2010. In July 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of Education initiated a charter revocation proceeding against Agora, but Agora will continue to operate in the 2009-10 school year during the pendency of that proceeding. See also Item 3, Legal Proceedings.

 

Our annual growth in revenues will also be impacted by changes in state or district per enrollment funding levels. These funding levels are typically established on an annual basis, are usually consistent from grade to grade, and generally increase at modest levels from year to year. Funding levels are generally set by the relevant state’s budgetary process. While this normally occurs on an annual or bi-annual basis, the current economic recession has caused a departure from the normal process in some states. During our fiscal year 2009, several states enacted mid-year funding cuts for public education, affecting the virtual public schools we serve. In addition, we are aware of legislation involving funding reductions for public education for the 2009-10 school year that will affect many of the virtual public schools we serve. In conjunction with this, states are now submitting applications for federal education funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“Stimulus Package”), which provides significant allocations designed to alleviate reductions in critical spending on education. There may be mid-year funding cuts to public education for the 2009-10 school year. Funding changes are difficult to predict. While we believe that we have the flexibility to reduce spending to offset the impact of funding reductions, we cannot be certain that we will be able to fully mitigate the impact of the reductions on our results of operations and cash flows.

 

We evaluate the pricing of our curriculum and educational services annually against market benchmarks and conditions and change them as we deem appropriate. We do not expect our price changes to have a significant impact on revenues as they are encompassed within changes in per enrollment funding levels.

 

Instructional Costs and Services Expenses

 

Instructional costs and services expenses include expenses directly attributable to the educational products and services we provide. The virtual public schools we manage are the primary drivers of these costs, including teacher and administrator salaries and benefits and expenses of related support services. Instructional costs also include fulfillment costs of student textbooks and materials, depreciation and reclamation costs of computers provided for student use, and the cost of any third-party online courses. In addition, we include in instructional costs the amortization of capitalized curriculum and related systems. We measure, track and manage instructional costs and services as a percentage of revenues and on a per enrollment basis as these are key indicators of performance and operating efficiency.

 

As a percentage of revenues, instructional costs and services expenses increased for the year ended June 30, 2009, as compared to the year ended June 30, 2008 due to an increase in enrollments associated with managed schools compared with non-managed schools. Managed school enrollments have higher costs as a percentage of revenues due to the high level of support services provided to the school. Also contributing to the increase was the rapid growth in high school enrollments relative to total enrollments. Notably, the high school instructional model includes teacher and administrative support costs on a per student basis that are higher than those of K-8 students. In addition, incremental freight charges due to expedited student materials shipments and fuel surcharges, partially offset by reduced costs of student materials and computers, contributed to the increase as well as start-up costs associated with the commencement of school operations in four new states and two existing states. Reflecting the

impact of these items, instructional costs and services expenses increased to 62.4% of revenues for the year ended June 30, 2009 compared with 58.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008.

 

In the near term, we expect high school enrollments to grow as a percentage of total enrollments. Our high school offering requires increased instructional costs as a percentage of revenues compared to our kindergarten to 8th grade offering. This is due to the following: (i) generally lower student-to-teacher ratios; (ii) higher compensation costs for some teaching positions requiring subject-matter expertise; (iii) ancillary costs for required student support services including college placement, SAT preparation and guidance counseling; and (vi) use of third-party courses to augment our proprietary curriculum. Over time, we anticipate offsetting these factors by obtaining productivity gains in our high school instructional model, replacing third-party high school courses with proprietary content, leveraging our school infrastructure and obtaining purchasing economies of scale.

 

We have deployed and are continuing to develop new delivery models, including a hybrid model, where students receive both face-to-face and online instruction. These models necessitate additional costs including facilities related costs and additional administrative support, which are generally not required to operate typical virtual public schools. In addition, development costs may include instructional research and curriculum development. As a result, instructional costs as a percentage of revenues may be higher than our kindergarten through eighth grade offering. In addition, we are pursuing expansion into new states. If we are successful, we will incur start-up costs and other expenses associated with the initial launch of a virtual public school, which may result in increased instructional costs as a percentage of revenues.

 

Selling, Administrative and Other Operating Expenses

 

Selling, administrative and other operating expenses include the salaries, benefits and related costs of employees engaged in business development, sales and marketing, and administrative functions. In addition, we include rent expense for our corporate headquarters and stock compensation expense. We measure and track selling, administrative and other operating expenses as a percentage of revenues to track performance and efficiency of these areas. In addition, we track measures of sales and marketing efficiency including the number of new enrollment prospects for virtual public schools and our ability to convert these prospects into enrollments. We also track various operating, call center and information technology statistics as indicators of operating efficiency and customer service. From fiscal year 2005 through fiscal year 2007, our selling, administrative and other operating expenses as a percentage of revenues remained relatively stable as we significantly increased our marketing and selling expenses and expanded our management team and administrative staff over this period. For fiscal years 2009 and 2008, our selling, administrative and other operating expenses as a percentage of revenues were 27.5% and 32.0% respectively, a decrease of 4.5% and 4.4% respectively, as compared to the prior year. This decline is attributable to our ability to support growth in revenues and enrollments without a corresponding increase in management and administrative expenses. This was offset by growth in marketing and student recruitment expenses at rates in excess of revenue growth. We expect to gradually gain more leverage on our corporate overhead and selling resources and expect our selling, administrative and other operating expenses to decline over time as a percentage of revenues.

 

Product Development Expenses

 

Product development expenses include research and development costs and overhead costs associated with the management of projects to develop curriculum and internal systems. In addition, product development expenses include the amortization of internal systems and any impairment charges. We measure and track our product development expenditures on a per course or project basis to measure and assess our development efficiency. In addition, we monitor employee utilization to evaluate our workforce efficiency. We plan to invest in additional curriculum development and related software in the future, primarily to produce additional high school courses, world language courses, new releases of existing courses and to upgrade our content management system and our OLS. We capitalize most of the costs incurred to develop our curriculum and software, beginning with application development, through production and testing.

 

We account for impairment of capitalized curriculum development costs in accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 144 (SFAS No. 144), Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived

Assets. See “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates”. We recorded impairment charges on capitalized curriculum of $0.3 million for the year ended June 30, 2009. There were no impairment charges for the years ended June 30, 2008 and 2007.

 

Other Factors That May Affect Comparability

 

Public Company Expenses.  Upon the completion of our initial public offering, we became a public company, and our shares of common stock are publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol “LRN”. As a result, we comply with new laws, regulations and requirements that we did not need to comply with as a private company, including certain provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, other applicable SEC regulations and the requirements of the NYSE. Compliance with the requirements of being a public company require us to increase our general and administrative expenses in order to pay our employees, legal counsel and independent registered public accountants to assist us in, among other things, instituting and monitoring a more comprehensive compliance and board governance function, establishing and maintaining internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and preparing and distributing periodic public reports in compliance with our obligations under the federal securities laws. In addition, as a public company, it is more expensive for us to obtain directors and officers liability insurance.

 

Stock Option Expense.  The adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 123R, “Share Based Payments” (SFAS No. 123R), requires that we recognize an expense for stock options granted beginning July 1, 2006. We incurred approximately $2.8 million and $1.5 million in stock compensation expense for the years ended June 30, 2009 and 2008, respectively. We expect stock option expense to increase in the future as we grant additional stock options.

 

Income Tax Benefits Resulting from Decrease of Valuation Allowance.  In the period from our inception through fiscal year 2005, we incurred significant operating losses that resulted in a net operating loss carryforward for tax purposes. However, in each of the three years ending June 30, 2008, we have generated increasing enrollments, revenue and operating profit. As a result, in fiscal year 2008, we determined it was more likely than not that substantially all of our net deferred tax asset would be utilized. For the year ended June 30, 2008, we recognized a net income tax benefit of $21.1 million. This reflects the net effect of a $27.0 million tax benefit from the reversal of the valuation allowance on net deferred tax assets and an income tax expense of $5.9 million, or 46.6% of pretax income. Income tax expense for the year ended June 30, 2009 was $9.6 million, or 45.0% of pretax income.

 

Public Funding and Regulation.  Our public school customers are financed with federal, state and local government funding. Budget appropriations for education at all levels of government are determined through a political process and impacted by general economic conditions, and, as a result, our revenues may be affected by changes in appropriations. Decreases in funding could result in an adverse affect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

 

Competition.  The market for providing online education for grades K-12 is becoming increasingly competitive and attracting significant new entrants. If we are unable to successfully compete for new business and contract renewals, our growth in revenues and operating margins may decline. With the introduction of new technologies and market entrants, we expect this competition to intensify.

 

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

 

The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. In the preparation of our consolidated financial statements, we are required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, as well as the related disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. The results of our analysis form the basis for making assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions, and the impact of such differences may be material to our consolidated financial statements. Our critical accounting policies have been discussed with the audit committee of our board of directors.

We believe that the following critical accounting policies affect the more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements:

 

Revenue Recognition

 

In accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 104 (SAB No. 104), we recognize revenues when the following conditions are met: (1) persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists; (2) delivery of physical goods or rendering of services is complete; (3) the seller’s price to the buyer is fixed or determinable; and (4) collection is reasonably assured. Once these conditions are satisfied, the amount of revenues we record is determined in accordance with Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF 99-19), “Reporting Revenue Gross as a Principal versus Net as an Agent.”

 

We generate almost all of our revenues through long-term contracts with virtual public schools. These schools are generally funded by state or local governments on a per student basis. Under these contracts, we are responsible for providing each enrolled student with access to our OLS, our online lessons, offline learning kits and student support services required for their complete education. In most cases, we are also responsible for providing complete management and technology services required for the operation of the school. The revenues derived from these long-term agreements are primarily dependent upon the number of students enrolled, the extent of the management services contracted for by the school, and the level of funding provided to the school for each student.

 

We have determined that the elements of our contracts are valuable to schools in combination, but do not have standalone value. In addition, we have determined that we do not have objective and reliable evidence of fair value for each element of our contracts. As a result, the elements within our multiple-element contracts do not qualify for treatment as separate units of accounting. Accordingly, we account for revenues received under multiple element arrangements as a single unit of accounting and recognize the entire arrangement based upon the approximate rate at which we incur the costs associated with each element.

 

We invoice virtual public schools in accordance with the established contractual terms. Generally, this means that for each enrolled student, we invoice their school on a per student basis for the following items: (1) access to our online school and online lessons; (2) offline learning kits; and (3) student personal computers. We also invoice for management and technology services. We apply SAB No. 104 to each of these items as follows:

 

 

The majority of our enrollments occur at the beginning of the school year in August or September, depending upon the state. Because upfront fees are generally charged at the beginning of the school year, the balance in our deferred revenue account tends to be at its highest point at the end of the first quarter.

 

Generally, the balance will decline over the course of the year and all deferred revenue related to virtual public schools will be fully recognized by the end of our fiscal year on June 30.

 

 

 

We recognize the revenues from turnkey management and technology fees ratably over the course of our fiscal year. We use 12 months as a basis for recognition because administrative offices of the school remain open for the entire year. To determine the amount of revenues to recognize in our fiscal year, we estimate the total funds that each school will receive in a particular school year, and our related fees associated with the estimated funding. Our management and technology service fees are generally a contracted percentage of yearly school revenues. We review our estimates of funding periodically, and revise as necessary, amortizing any adjustments over the remaining portion of the fiscal year. Actual school funding may vary from these estimates or revisions, and the impact of these differences could have a material impact on our results of operations. Since the end of the school year coincides with the end of our fiscal year, we are generally able to base our annual revenues on actual school revenues. As a result, on an annual basis, we have not had to make any material adjustments to our estimates of revenue over the last three years.

 

Under most contracts, we provide the virtual schools we manage with turnkey management services and agree to operate the school within per enrollment funding levels. This includes assuming responsibility for any operating deficits that the schools may incur in a given school year. These operating deficits represent the excess of costs over revenues incurred by the virtual public schools as reflected on their financial statements. The costs include our charges to the schools. Such deficits may arise from school start-up costs, from funding shortfalls, from temporary or long-term incremental cost requirements for a particular school, or due to specific one-time expenses that a school may incur. Up to the level of school revenues, our collections are reasonably assured. We consider the operating deficits to estimate any impairment of collection, and our recognized revenue reflects this impairment. The fact that a school has an operating deficit does not mean we anticipate losing money on the contract. We recognize the impact of these operating deficits by estimating the full year revenues and full year deficits of schools at the beginning of the fiscal year. We amortize the estimated deficits against recognized revenues based upon the percentage of actual revenues in the period to total estimated revenues for the fiscal year. We periodically review our estimates of full year school revenues and full year operating deficits and amortize the impact of any changes to these estimates over the remainder of our fiscal year. Actual school operating deficits may vary from these estimates or revisions, and the impact of these differences could have a material impact on our results of operations. Since the end of the school year coincides with the end of our fiscal year, we are generally able to base our annual revenues on actual school revenues and use actual costs incurred in our

calculation of school operating deficits. As a result, on an annual basis, we have not had to make any material adjustments to our estimates of realizable revenue over the last three years.

 

The amount of revenues we record is determined in accordance with EITF 99-19. For the schools where we provide turnkey management services, we have determined that we are the primary obligor for substantially all expenses of the school. Accordingly, we report revenues on a gross basis by recording the associated per student revenues received by the school from its funding state or school district up to the expenses incurred by the school. Revenues are recognized when the underlying expenses are incurred by the school. For the small percentage of contracts where we provide individually selected services for the school, we invoice on a per student or per service basis and recognize revenues in accordance with SAB No. 104. Under these contracts, where we do not assume responsibility for operating deficits, we record revenues on a net basis.

 

We also generate a small percentage of our revenues through the sale of our online courses and offline learning kits directly to consumers. Online course sales are generally month to month subscriptions or for periods of 12 months and customers have the option of paying a discounted amount in full upfront or paying in monthly installments. Payments are generally made with charge cards. For those customers electing to pay these subscription fees in their entirety upfront, we record the payment as deferred revenue and amortize the revenues over the life of the subscription. For customers paying monthly, we recognize these payments as revenues in the month earned. Revenues for offline learning kits are recognized when shipped. Within 30 days of enrollment, customers can receive a full refund, however customers terminating after 30 days will receive a pro rata refund for the unused portion of their subscription less a termination fee. Historically, the impact of refunds has been immaterial. We currently generate revenues from K¹² International Academy, although the amounts are immaterial. These revenues are recognized based upon the products or services provided as described above.

 

Capitalized Curriculum Development Costs

 

Our curriculum is primarily developed by our employees and to a lesser extent, by independent contractors. Generally, our courses cover traditional subjects and utilize examples and references designed to remain relevant for long periods of time. The online nature of our curriculum allows us to incorporate user feedback rapidly and make ongoing corrections and improvements. For these reasons, we believe that our courses, once developed, have an extended useful life, similar to computer software. We also create textbooks and other offline materials. Our curriculum is integral to our learning system. Our customers do not acquire our curriculum or future rights to it.

 

We capitalize curriculum development costs incurred during the application development stage in accordance with Statement of Position (SOP) 98-1, Accounting for the Costs of Computer Software Developed or Obtained for Internal Use. SOP 98-1 provides guidance for the treatment of costs associated with computer software development and defines those costs to be capitalized and those to be expensed. Costs that qualify for capitalization are external direct costs, payroll, and payroll-related costs. Costs related to general and administrative functions are not capitalizable and are expensed as incurred. We capitalize curriculum development costs when the projects under development reach technological feasibility. Many of our new courses leverage off of proven delivery platforms and are primarily content, which has no technological hurdles. As a result, a significant portion of our courseware development costs qualify for capitalization due to the concentration of our development efforts on the content of the courseware. Technological feasibility is established when we have completed all planning, designing, coding, and testing activities necessary to establish that a course can be produced to meet its design specifications. Capitalization ends when a course is available for general release to our customers, at which time amortization of the capitalized costs begins. The period of time over which these development costs will be amortized is generally five years. This is consistent with the capitalization period used by others in our industry and corresponds with our product development lifecycle. Included in capitalized curriculum development is the November 2007 purchase of a perpetual license of curriculum for $3 million. The purchase agreement includes a provision for future royalty payments. This curriculum will be included as part of our high school offering and will be amortized over five years.

 

Software Developed or Obtained for Internal Use

 

We develop our own proprietary computer software programs to provide specific functionality to support both our unique education offering and the student and school management services. These programs enable us to

develop courses, process student enrollments, meet state documentation requirements, track student academic progress, deliver online courses to students, coordinate and track the delivery of course-specific materials to students and provide teacher support and training. These applications are integral to our learning system and we continue to enhance existing applications and create new applications. Our customers do not acquire our software or future rights to it.

 

We capitalize software development costs incurred during the development stage of these applications in accordance with SOP 98-1, Accounting for the Costs of Computer Software Developed or Obtained for Internal Use. These capitalized development costs are included in property and equipment and are generally amortized over three years.

 

Impairment of Long-lived Assets

 

Long-lived assets include property, equipment, capitalized curriculum and software developed or obtained for internal use. In accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 144 (SFAS No. 144), Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets, we review our recorded long-lived assets for impairment annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be fully recoverable. We determine the extent to which an asset may be impaired based upon our expectation of the asset’s future usability as well as on a reasonable assurance that the future cash flows associated with the asset will be in excess of its carrying amount. If the total of the expected undiscounted future cash flows is less than the carrying amount of the asset, a loss is recognized for the difference between fair value and the carrying value of the asset.

 

Accounting for Stock-based Compensation

 

Effective July 1, 2006, we adopted the fair value recognition provisions of SFAS No. 123R using the prospective transition method, which requires us to apply the provisions of SFAS No. 123R only to awards granted, modified, repurchased or cancelled after the effective date. Under this transition method, stock based compensation expense recognized beginning July 1, 2006 is based on the fair value of stock awards as of the grant date. As we had used the minimum value method for valuing its stock options under the disclosure requirements of SFAS No. 123, all options granted prior to July 1, 2006 continue to be accounted for under APB No. 25.

 

We use the Black-Scholes option pricing model method to calculate the fair value of stock options. Depending on certain substantive characteristics of the stock option, we, where appropriate, utilize a binomial model. The use of option valuation models requires the input of highly subjective assumptions, including the expected stock price volatility and the expected term of the option.

 

Option valuation models also require a determination of the fair value of our common stock at various dates. As a public company, fair value is readily observable in the market price of our common stock. Before the completion of our IPO, such determinations required complex and subjective judgments. During this pre-IPO period, we considered several methodologies to estimate our enterprise value, including guideline public company analysis, an analysis of comparable company transactions, and a discounted cash flow analysis.

 

We also considered several equity allocation methodologies to allocate the estimate of enterprise value to our redeemable convertible preferred stock and common stock including the current value method, the option pricing method, and the probability weighted expected return method (PWERM). The final valuation conclusion was based upon the PWERM equity allocation because it considers the value that would be attributable to each equity interest under different scenarios.

 

We account for equity instruments issued to non-employees in accordance with the provisions of SFAS No. 123R and EITF 96-18, Accounting for Equity Instruments That Are Issued to Other Than Employees for Acquiring, or in Conjunction with Selling, Goods or Services.

 

Deferred Tax Asset Valuation Allowance

 

We account for income taxes as prescribed by Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 109 (SFAS No. 109), Accounting for Income Taxes. SFAS No. 109 prescribes the use of the asset and liability method

to compute the differences between the tax bases of assets and liabilities and the related financial amounts, using currently enacted tax laws. If necessary, a valuation allowance is established, based on the weight of available evidence, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount that is more likely than not to be realized. Realization of the deferred tax assets, net of deferred tax liabilities, is principally dependent upon achievement of sufficient future taxable income. We exercise significant judgment in determining our provisions for income taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities and our future taxable income for purposes of assessing our ability to utilize any future tax benefit from our deferred tax assets. However, our ability to forecast sufficient future taxable income is subject to certain market factors that we may not be able to control such as a material reduction in per pupil funding levels, legislative budget cuts reducing or eliminating the products and services we provide and government regulation.

 

From inception through fiscal year 2005, we had generated significant losses. However, in the three years ending June 30, 2008 we generated increasing operating profit. In addition, our revenues are dependent upon the number of student enrollments. During the recruiting season for fall 2008, we received enrollment applications that would provide for additional growth for fiscal year 2009. When considering this positive evidence of future profitability, we believed that our recent history of generating positive pre-tax income is sustainable and is expected to continue to grow as a result of the increasing revenues primarily from virtual public schools. Consequently, as we believed that it is more likely than not that we would be able to utilize substantially all of our net deferred tax asset, we reversed approximately $27.0 million of the valuation allowance on our net deferred tax asset for the year ended June 30, 2008.

 

Although we believe that our tax estimates are reasonable, the ultimate tax determination involves significant judgments that could become subject to examination by tax authorities in the ordinary course of business. We periodically assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the impact on our deferred taxes and income tax liabilities and the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. Changes in income tax legislation, statutory income tax rates, or future taxable income levels, among other things, could materially impact our valuation of income tax assets and liabilities and could cause our income tax provision to vary significantly among financial reporting periods.

 

As of June 30, 2009, we had federal net operating loss carryforwards of $68.3 million that expire between 2020 and 2029 if unused. We maintain a valuation allowance on net deferred tax assets of $0.7 million as of June 30, 2009 related to state income taxes as we believe it is more likely than not that we will not be able to utilize these deferred tax assets. During 2008, we changed our tax treatment of certain capitalized costs which resulted in an increase in its net operating loss carryforwards. Due to these net operating loss carryforwards, we do not expect to pay federal income taxes in the next twelve months.

 

Goodwill and Other Intangibles

 

We record as goodwill the excess of purchase price over the fair value of the identifiable net assets acquired. The determination of fair value of the identifiable net assets acquired was determined by management utilizing various valuation methodologies. Intangible assets subject to amortization include trade names, domain names, and non-compete agreements. Such intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives, which are considered to be two years.

 

Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, prescribes a two-step process for impairment testing of goodwill and intangibles with indefinite lives, which is performed annually, as well as when an event triggering impairment may have occurred. The first step tests for impairment, while the second step, if necessary, measures the impairment. Goodwill and intangible assets deemed to have an indefinite life are tested for impairment on an annual basis, or earlier when events or changes in circumstances suggest the carrying amount may not be fully recoverable. We have elected to perform our annual assessment on May 31st. For the year ended June 30, 2009, 2008, and 2007 no impairment to goodwill was recorded.

 

Consolidation of Minority Interest

 

Our consolidated financial statements reflect the results of operations of our Middle East joint venture. Earnings or losses attributable to our partner are classified as “minority interest” in our consolidated statements of operations. Minority interest adjusts our consolidated net results of operations to reflect only our share of the after-

tax earnings or losses of an affiliated company. Income taxes attributable to minority interest are determined using the applicable statutory tax rates in the jurisdictions where such operations are conducted.

 

Results of Operations

 

The following table sets forth average enrollment data for each of the periods indicated:

 

 

The following table sets forth statements of operations data for each of the periods indicated:

 

The following table presents our selected consolidated statement of operations data expressed as a percentage of our total revenues for the periods indicated:

 

 

Comparison of Years Ended June 30, 2009 and 2008

 

Revenues.  Our revenues for the year ended June 30, 2009 were $315.6 million, representing an increase of $89.3 million, or 39.5%, as compared to revenues of $226.2 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. Average enrollments increased 34.5% to 54,962 for the year ended June 30, 2009 from 40,859 for the same period prior year. The increase in average enrollments was primarily attributable to 29.9% enrollment growth in existing states. New school openings in Hawaii, Indiana, Oregon, and South Carolina contributed approximately 4.6% to enrollment growth. In new and existing states combined, high school enrollments contributed approximately 11.4% to enrollment growth. High school enrollments increased 84.0% and constituted approximately 18.5% of our enrollments for the year ended June 30, 2009 as compared to 13.5% for the same period in the prior year. Also contributing to the growth in revenues was the increase in the percentage of enrollments associated with managed schools, which generate higher revenue per enrollment than non-managed school enrollments. The percentage of enrollments associated with managed schools increased to 85.4% for the year ended June 30, 2009 from 82.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008.

 

Instructional Costs and Services Expenses.  Instructional costs and services expenses for the year ended June 30, 2009 were $197.0 million, representing an increase of $65.7 million, or 50.0% as compared to instructional costs and services of $131.3 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. This increase was primarily attributable to a $47.9 million increase in expenses to operate and manage the schools and a $17.8 million increase in costs to supply curriculum, books, educational materials and computers to students, including depreciation and amortization. As a percentage of revenues, instructional costs increased to 62.4% for the year ended June 30, 2009, as compared to 58.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008. This increase as a percentage of revenues is primarily attributable to four factors: 1) an increase in the percentage of managed school enrollments relative to total enrollments from 82.0% to 85.4%. Managed school enrollments generate more revenue than those associated with non-managed schools, but have higher instructional costs as a percentage of revenues; 2) an increase in the percentage of high school enrollments relative to total enrollments from 13.5% to 18.5%. High school enrollments have higher costs as a percentage of revenues due to increased teacher and related services costs; 3) incremental freight charges due to expedited student materials shipments and fuel surcharges, partially offset by reduced costs of student materials and computers; and 4) start-up costs associated with the commencement of school operations in four new states and two new schools in existing states.

Selling, Administrative, and Other Operating Expenses.  Selling, administrative, and other operating expenses for year ended June 30, 2009 were $86.7 million, representing an increase of $14.3 million, or 19.7%, as compared to selling, administrative and other operating expenses of $72.4 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. This increase is primarily attributable to a $6.2 million increase in student recruiting costs, a $1.6 million increase in professional services, and a $6.5 million increase in other expenses. As a percentage of revenues, selling, administrative, and other operating expenses decreased to 27.5% for the year ended June 30, 2009 as compared to 32.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008 primarily due to greater leverage on our corporate overhead and fixed selling resources. Partially offsetting this leverage were increased investments in demand generating activities and our international expansion efforts.

 

Product Development Expenses.  Product development expenses for the years ended June 30, 2009 and 2008 were $9.6 million. Employee compensation as well as contract labor costs increased, but were offset by greater utilization of these resources to develop curriculum assets. As a percentage of revenues, product development expenses decreased to 3.0% for the year ended June 30, 2009 as compared to 4.2% for the year ended June 30, 2008 as we were able to leverage these costs over a larger revenue base.

 

Net Interest Expense.  Net interest expense for the year ended June 30, 2009 was $1.0 million, as compared to net interest expense of $0.3 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. The increase is due to growth in our capital lease obligations partially offset by reduced borrowings under our revolving line of credit. In addition, although our average cash balances were higher for the year ended June 30, 2009, the significant decline in interest rates resulted in lower interest income.

 

Income Taxes.  Income tax expense for the year ended June 30, 2009 was $9.6 million, or 45.0% of income before income taxes, as compared to an income tax benefit of $21.1 million for the year ended June 30, 2008. The income tax benefit for the year ended June 30, 2008 reflects a $27.0 million tax benefit as we were able to reverse the valuation allowance on net deferred tax assets generated by our net operating losses that were fully reserved in prior periods. Had that reversal not occurred, we would have recorded an income tax expense of $5.9 million, or 46.6% of income before income taxes for the year ended June 30, 2008.

 

Minority Interest.  Minority interest for the year ended June 30, 2009 was $0.6 million, reflecting losses attributable to shareholders in our joint venture. There was no minority interest for the year ended June 30, 2008.

 

Net Income.  Net income was $12.3 million for the year ended June 30, 2009, compared to net income of $33.8 million for the year ended June 30, 2008, a decrease of $21.5 million. Excluding the $27.0 million income tax benefit in fiscal year 2008, net income as a percentage of revenues increased to 3.9% for the year ended June 30, 2009, as compared to 3.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008, as a result of the factors discussed above.

 

Comparison of Years Ended June 30, 2008 and 2007

 

Revenues.  Our revenues for the year ended June 30, 2008 were $226.2 million, representing an increase of $85.7 million, or 61.0%, as compared to revenues of $140.6 million for the year ended June 30, 2007. Average enrollments increased 51.3% to 40,859 for the year ended June 30, 2008 from 27,005 for the year ended June 30, 2007. The increase in average enrollments was primarily attributable to 40.5% enrollment growth in existing states. New school openings in Georgia and Nevada contributed approximately 10.8% to enrollment growth. In new and existing states combined, high school enrollments contributed approximately 11.7% to enrollment growth. In addition, we launched 11th and 12th grade in August 2007 attracting new students as well as prior year 10th grade students. High school enrollments comprised approximately 13.5% of our total average enrollment for the year ended June 30, 2008 as compared to 8.7% in the prior period. Also contributing to the growth in revenues was a 6.4% increase in average revenues per enrollment. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase in the percentage of enrollments associated with managed schools, which generate higher revenue per enrollment than non-managed school enrollments. The percentage of enrollments associated with managed schools increased to 82.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008 from 76.9% for the year ended June 30, 2007.

 

Instructional Costs and Services Expenses.  Instructional costs and services expenses for the year ended June 30, 2008 were $131.3 million, representing an increase of $55.2 million, or 72.6% as compared to instructional costs and services of $76.1 million for the year ended June 30, 2007. This increase was primarily attributable to a

$40.6 million increase in expenses to operate and manage the schools and a $13.6 million increase in costs to supply books, educational materials and computers to students, including depreciation and amortization. As a percentage of revenues, instructional costs increased to 58.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008, as compared to 54.1% for the year ended June 30, 2007. The increase in instructional cost and service expenses as a percentage of revenues is primarily due to an increase in enrollments associated with managed schools, which have higher costs as a percentage of revenues than non-managed school, higher per student costs for high school because our instructional model has not yet attained scale, and higher costs to procure and supply materials due to greater than anticipated enrollments.

 

Selling, Administrative, and Other Operating Expenses.  Selling, administrative, and other operating expenses for year ended June 30, 2008 were $72.4 million, representing an increase of $21.2 million, or 41.5%, as compared to selling, administrative and other operating expenses of $51.2 million for the year ended June 30, 2007. This increase is primarily attributable to an $8.9 million increase in personnel costs primarily due to increased headcount and a $4.7 million increase in professional services. As a percentage of revenues, selling, administrative, and other operating expenses decreased to 32.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008 as compared to 36.4% for the year ended June 30, 2007 as we gained greater leverage on our corporate overhead and selling resources.

 

Product Development Expenses.  Product development expenses for the year ended June 30, 2008 were $9.6 million, representing an increase of $1.0 million, or 10.9%, as compared to product development expenses of $8.6 million for the year ended June 30, 2007. Employee headcount and contract labor increased, but was offset by greater utilization of these resources for capitalized curriculum. As a percentage of revenues, product development expenses decreased to 4.2% for the year ended June 30, 2008 as compared to 6.1% for the year ended June 30, 2007.

 

Net Interest Expense.  Net interest expense for the year ended June 30, 2008 was $0.3 million, a decrease of $0.3 million, from $0.6 million for the year ended June 30, 2007. The decrease in net interest expense is primarily due to interest income generated on the net cash proceeds from our IPO, partially offset by an increase in interest charges on increased capital lease obligations.

 

Income Taxes.  Income tax benefit for the year ended June 30, 2008 was $21.1 million compared to income tax expense of $0.2 million for the year ended June 30, 2007. Our provision for income taxes for the year ended June 30, 2008 was $5.9 million, or 46.6% of income before income taxes. The tax provision was offset by a $27.0 million tax benefit we recognized as we were able to reverse the valuation allowance on net deferred tax assets generated by our net operating losses that were fully reserved for in prior periods. For the year ended June 30, 2007 income tax expense was $0.2 million, as we were able to utilize the deferred tax assets which were generated from our net operating losses and for which a full reserve was maintained in prior periods.

 

Net Income.  Net income for the year ended June 30, 2008 was $33.8 million, representing an increase of $29.9 million, as compared to net income of $3.9 million for the year ended June 30, 2007. Net income as a percentage of revenues increased to 15.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008, as compared to 2.7% for the year ended June 30, 2007, as a result of the factors discussed above. Excluding the $27.0 million income tax benefit in fiscal year 2008, net income for the year ended June 30, 2008 would have been $6.8 million, representing an increase of $2.9 million or 75.9% as compared to net income of $3.9 million for the year ended June 30, 2007. Excluding the income tax benefit, net income as a percentage of revenues would have increased to 3.0% for the year ended June 30, 2008 as compared to 2.7% for the year ended June 30, 2007.

Quarterly Results of Operations

 

The following tables set forth selected unaudited quarterly consolidated statement of operations data for the eight most recent quarters, as well as each line item expressed as a percentage of total revenues. The information for each of these quarters has been prepared on the same basis as the audited consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K and, in the opinion of management, includes all adjustments necessary for the fair presentation of the results of operations for such periods. This data should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in this annual report. These quarterly operating results are not necessarily indicative of our operating results for any future period