SCIO - An online charter school in Scio moved a step closer to reality Monday when the Oregon Department of Education announced it finds no reason to recommend withholding of funds.

Scio Superintendent Jim Thomas said Oregon Connections Academy will now work on finding a central location for its teachers. The plan is to open the school, for kindergarten through ninth grade, this fall.

The department had been reviewing Scio's application in the light of a request for a similar cyberschool in southern Oregon.

Coquille School District was told it would not receive public money for its charter school because it didn't comply with certain state laws, particularly ones related to certified teachers providing a "comprehensive instructional program."

"We didn't find that same level of concern in what Scio was proposing," said the ODE's Randy Harnisch.

Harnisch stressed that ODE is not able to take a position approving charter schools for a particular district. That's up to the district itself, and Scio has already approved the charter request.

Instead, he said, "We've reviewed it, and we've found nothing that would require us to take any action to deny distribution of state funds."

Oregon Connections Academy stands to be the first wholly online, statewide, full-curriculum public charter school in the state.

Thomas said the private company with which the school district has contracted has a list of about 100 interested students so far, most of them homeschoolers and all of them from outside the Scio area.

Scio Business Director Cecelia Swigart said she is building a budget for next year with a potential revenue figure of about $2.6 million.

That's based on enrollment of 500 students.

However, she stressed, that money is in contingency instead of being earmarked for programs, so that it will not be spent if the students don't actually enroll.

The state is researching its own potential role in online education, envisioning itself as a "clearinghouse" that could connect online programs with districts around the state instead of having districts form their own network of contracts, Harnisch said.

"At some point down the line there might be some healthy competition (with Scio), but at this point, no," he said.