The idea that the Butler Area School District might look into starting its own cyber school brings to mind the expression "If you can't beat them, join them."

It was Michael Strutt, assistant superintendent, who made the suggestion that Butler consider creating its own cyber school at a policy committee meeting last week. In making his case, Strutt noted that the district spends $400,000 a year to have 50 or so of its own students educated by other cyber schools in the state, and Strutt believes the district can educate those students at a lower cost utilizing the same computer-based, home-learning approach.

Three school board members and superintendent Ed Fink were in agreement that the idea warrants further study.

Now that cyber schools have been up and running for a few years in Pennsylvania and several other states, some bugs have been worked out of the system and it's become clear that for a certain percentage of students, learning from home, with a computer and high-speed Internet connection, makes sense.

It might well turn out that the Butler School District can provide cyber education at a lower cost-per-student than they are currently paying other cyber schools. The school district already has a level of expertise in curriculum design, testing and technology, and this should give it some competitive advantages over cyber schools starting from scratch.

While the initial objective is saving money, it could turn out that the school district's cyber school not only saves money, but is better.

Cyber education is not going away, as much as public school officials seemed to be hoping a few years ago. Rather than sit by and see more students drift away from the traditional brick-and-mortar schools, school districts should explore offering the at-home learning programs themselves. Districts would be competing with themselves to a certain degree, but they would also be keeping money from leaving the district.

Though his vision is still preliminary, Strutt told board members last week that his plan would be to offer the same curriculum as the district already offers. That might be a good starting point, but somewhere down the line it might make sense for the district to offer some courses exclusively on the cyber basis. These specialty courses might be of interest to some Butler students as well as students from other districts, or even outside the county.

If district-based cyber schools are developed, there could come a time when the average high school student will graduate with a mix of traditional classroom credits complemented by several cyber classes.

Another idea Butler officials should entertain is the possibility of partnering with other public school districts in Butler County. Such a cost- and resource-sharing approach would keep each district's costs as low as possible and produce other benefits by sharing teaching and technology resources. If other districts come to the same conclusion, about creating a cyber school, a partnership would avoid the duplication and competition that would come from several districts running their own individual cyber schools.

Finally, while setting up and managing a cyber school presents a whole new set of challenges for Butler School District officials, it might not make sense to limit enrollment to students living in the district. If a program is developed and can accommodate all interested district students, why not expand the program to take in more students and more dollars for very little additional expense?

Butler and other school districts across the country have had to deal with developing cyber schools for the past several years and it seems clear that cyber-learning is preferred by a certain percentage of students and families for a variety of reasons.

By creating its own cyber school, the Butler School District might very well save some money while at the same time better serve its students.

Strutt's idea deserves further discussion.