The Colorado State Board of Education on Thursday unanimously denied the application for an online school that would have specialized in technical education, saying the state is oversaturated with virtual schools and citing the sharp enrollment drop-off rate among such programs.

The Colorado Virtual Tech Academy (CVTA) would have served as a multi-district online school for grades 6-12 offering postsecondary coursework along with internships and local partnerships with local colleges through both synchronous and asynchronous schedules.

The Education ReEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services (ERBOCES) in El Paso County submitted the application. ERBOCES authorizes the online schools Colorado Connections Academy, Pikes Peak Online School, Williamsburg Academy of Colorado and the Colorado Preparatory Academy elementary, middle and high schools.

CVTA’s curriculum would have been provided by Stellar Virtual, which has established virtual schools across the country, and Penn Foster for postsecondary programming.

Lisa Collins, Stellar’s senior vice president of academics, told the board that she had been working with ERBOCES for two years to identify a niche to fill in Colorado, which they found to be virtual technical education and serving at-risk student populations.

“They seem to be more in a college prep than a vocational focus,” she said of the state’s online offerings.

Board members questioned why another online school was needed in Colorado when there are 44 such schools across the state.

They added that the state has a history of single- and multi-district online schools struggling with enrollment drop-off throughout the school year and a high percentage of students opting out of the state’s accountability standards.

“We’re seeing such a high proportion of opt-outs that it’s really creating an accountability blackout, effectively,” board member Rebecca McClellan said.

Because Stellar Virtual has no presence in Colorado, the school would have to make numerous adjustments to its curriculum to meet the state’s standards, board members noted.

“You can see here, in part, when you have a school or a programmer or a company outside the state come in, these goals are not written for a Colorado school,” board member Lisa Escárcega said.