experiences and, for high school students, that can lead toward an industry certification and/or college credits. Like General Education products and services, the products and services for the Career Learning market are sold as a comprehensive school-as-a-service offering or as stand-alone products and services.

Through our Adult Learning business, we provide training programs leading to certifications in high-demand, growing industries like healthcare and technology. This business also delivers talent development programs to employers and government agencies.

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For both the General Education and Career Learning markets, the majority of revenue is derived from our comprehensive school-as-a-service offering which includes an integrated package of curriculum, technology systems, instruction, and support services that we administer on behalf of our customers. The average duration of the agreements for our school-as-a-service offering is greater than five years, and most provide for automatic renewals absent a customer notification of non-renewal.

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Our History

We were founded in 2000 to utilize advances in technology to provide children with access to a high quality education regardless of their geographic location or socioeconomic background.

In September 2001, we introduced our kindergarten through 2nd grade offering and subsequently added new grades and new school clients in additional states. We also opened online private schools to reach students worldwide.

During the 2024-2025 school year, we provided our school-as-a-service offering to 89 schools in 31 states and the District of Columbia in the General Education market, and 56 schools or programs in 27 states and the District of Columbia in the Career Learning market.

In 2020, we significantly expanded our Career Learning opportunity by acquiring three adult learning companies, Galvanize, Tech Elevator, and MedCerts. These Adult Learning brands deliver training in software engineering and allied healthcare to consumers and enterprises.

Our Market

The U.S. market for K-12 education is large and school choice and alternative educational options continue to gain share and acceptance. For example:

Market Opportunity

Increasingly more parents are seeking viable education options for their children, including access to educational platforms that can deliver technology-enriched educational content that improves student outcomes. The traditional education model has not fully utilized technology and digital content. We anticipate that our customers’ full-time online public schools will meet the needs of a small portion of the overall United States K-12 student population, but the expansion of our educational platform with new products and services can address a much larger and growing opportunity for us. There continues to be strong demand for full-time virtual education options driven by individual needs and desires to address technology, safety, disabilities, flexibility, athletes, career pathways, supplemental learning, medical needs, and frequent movers, just to list a few examples. Our individualized learning approach allows students to optimize their educational experience and, therefore, their chances of achieving their goals, regardless of their unique challenges.

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The pandemic changed the awareness and acceptance of online learning, and although we expect that most students in the United States will be educated in traditional school settings, we believe that a fundamental shift has taken place, and that states and districts will continue to expand virtual solutions. To meet this need, we offer full-service programs and stand-alone products and services that appeal to parents and students across the K-12 market.

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We are seeing growth in careers requiring non-degree post-secondary credentials or certifications and it is anticipated that demand for these lower cost solutions will be strong. Additionally, we believe recruiting and hiring for entry-level skilled positions remains a challenge for companies. To address this challenge, companies are partnering with training providers to prepare candidates for entry-level positions as well as to upskill their existing workforce.

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Our Lines of Revenue

General Education

General Education products and services are predominantly focused on core subjects, including math, English, science and history, for kindergarten through twelfth grade students to help build a common foundation of knowledge. These programs provide an alternative to traditional school options and address a range of student needs. Products and services are delivered as a comprehensive school-as-a-service offering for schools or as stand-alone products and services. A student enrolled in a school that offers Stride’s General Education program may elect to take career courses, but that student and the associated revenue is reported as a General Education enrollment and General Education revenue.

Career Learning

Career Learning products and services are focused on developing skills to enter and succeed in careers in high-growth, in-demand industries—including information technology, healthcare and general business. We provide middle and high school students with Career Learning programs that complement their core general education coursework. Stride offers multiple career pathways through a broad catalog of courses. The middle school program exposes students to a variety of career options and introduces career skill development. In high school, students may engage in industry content pathway courses, project-based learning in virtual teams, and career development services. High school students have the opportunity to progress toward certifications, connect with industry professionals, earn college credits while in high school, and participate in job shadowing and/or work-based learning experiences that facilitate success in today’s digital, tech-enabled economy. A student is reported as a Career Learning enrollment and associated Career Learning revenue only if the student is enrolled in a Career Learning program. Like General Education products and services, the products and services for Career Learning are sold as a comprehensive school-as-a-service offering or as stand-alone products and services.

We also provide focused post-secondary career learning programs to adult learners, for the software engineering, healthcare, and medical fields. These programs are sold directly to consumers, employers and government agencies.

Sales Channels

Virtual Schools

Our educational platform can be offered in an integrated package of systems, services, products, and professional expertise to support a virtual public school. Customers of these programs can obtain administrative support, information technology, academic support services, online curriculum, learning systems and instructional services under the terms of negotiated service and product agreements. These contracts are negotiated with, and approved by, the governing authorities of the customer. During any fiscal year, the Company may enter into new agreements, receive non-automatic renewal notices, negotiate replacement agreements, terminate such agreements or receive notice of termination, or customers may transition a school to a different offering. The governing boards may also establish school policies and other terms and conditions over the course of a contract, such as enrollment parameters. The authorizers who issue the charters to our school-as-a-service customers can renew, revoke, or modify those charters as well.

The majority of our revenue is derived from these school-as-a-service service agreements with the governing authorities of our public school partners. In addition to providing a comprehensive course catalog, related books and physical materials, a learning management system (“LMS”) for online learning, and, in certain cases, student computers, we also provide these schools a variety of administrative support, technology and academic support services. Full-time

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virtual and blended school students access online lessons over the internet and utilize offline learning materials we provide. Students receive assignments, complete lessons, take assessments, and are instructed by teachers with whom they interact via email, telephonically, in synchronous virtual classroom environments, and sometimes face to face.

Traditional School Districts

We also distribute our educational platform to schools and school districts across the U.S. and provide access to our digital content, learning software, teachers and support services. Public schools and school districts are increasingly adopting digital educational solutions to augment teaching practices, launch new learning models, cost effectively expand course offerings, provide schedule flexibility, improve student engagement, increase graduation rates, replace textbooks, and retain students. State education funds traditionally allocated for textbook and print materials have also been authorized for the purchase of digital content, including online courses, and in some cases mandated access to online courses.

Consumer Sales

We provide tuition-based online private schools that meet a range of student needs from individual course credit recovery to college preparatory programs. These programs address students and families in the states in which we do not offer a free public option, as well as students looking for additional flexibility. Additionally, many families can use education savings accounts, tax credits and vouchers to attend these schools for low or no cost. We also pursue international opportunities where we believe there is significant demand for quality online education. Our international students are typically from expatriate families who wish to study in English and foreign students who desire a U.S. high school diploma. In addition, we have entered into agreements that enable us to distribute our products and services to our international and domestic school partners who use our courses to provide broad elective offerings and dual diploma programs.

Our educational platform also offers the ability to deliver products and services directly to families. These purchasers desire to offer supplemental educational products to further their child’s existing public or private school education. Customers of our consumer products have the option of purchasing complete curriculum, individual courses, tutoring, career learning products, or a variety of other supplemental products, covering various subjects depending on their child’s needs. Typical applications include summer school course work, home-schooling, enrichment, and educational supplements.

We provide adult learning programs that address the skills gap facing companies in the information technology and healthcare sectors. We provide in-person and remote immersive full-time software engineering programs designed for adult learners looking to advance their technology careers by providing such learners with skills and real-world experiences. Our allied health programs provide self-paced, fully online structured training programs that lead to certifications in the healthcare field. We can also provide these programs directly to enterprises to create customized, tailored education plans to help companies train, upskill, and reskill their employees.

Business Strategy

We are committed to maximizing every learner’s potential by personalizing their educational experience, delivering a quality education to schools and students, and supporting our customers in their quest to improve academic outcomes and prepare them for college and future careers. To further those objectives, we continue to make investments in our platforms to improve the effectiveness of our school workforce, develop new instructional approaches, to increase engagement, improve our systems and security, and to enable us to expand the markets we can serve. This strategy consists of the following key elements:

Key Products and Services

We continue to invest in our educational platform to educate students more effectively and efficiently. Much of our investment has been in the development of improved functionality of our curriculum and technology systems. Areas

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of focus include: (i) integration and user experience (ii) mobile enabled products; (iii) portability; (iv) personalization; (v) flexibility; (vi) reading and oral fluency scoring; (vii) state standard alignment; (viii) tutoring & support; and (ix) automated and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted learning.

We continue to expand upon our personalized learning model, improve the user experience of our products, and develop tools and partnerships to more effectively engage and serve students, teachers, administrators, and adult learners.

Technology Platform

We have established a secure and reliable technology platform, which integrates proprietary and third-party systems to provide a high-quality educational environment and gives us the capability to grow our customer programs and enrollment. Our end-to-end platform includes content management, learning management, student information, data reporting and analytics, and various support systems that allow customers to provide a high-quality, and personalized educational experience for students. Our platform can be used to deliver our products and services in a number of implementation models, including our school-as-a-service offering, integration with existing school LMSs, and to deliver stand-alone offerings to consumers.

Our platform, along with our back-office support systems, runs on cloud infrastructure from Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) and Microsoft Azure. Our key systems leverage a proprietary technology architecture that allows us to develop iterative, agile and customizable solutions to meet both present and future market needs. Our systems run 7 X 24 X 365 on world-class cloud infrastructure from AWS and Azure that operate in multiple availability zones. A business-centric information security program has also been adopted that is tailored to adjust to an ever-changing IT compliance and information security threat landscape. Our cybersecurity measures and policies are aligned with cybersecurity guidance from the National Institute of Standards & Technologies (NIST) across our cloud ecosystems. See Item 1C of Part I, “Cybersecurity,” for additional information.

Curriculum and Content

Our customers can select from hundreds of high-quality, engaging, online coursework and content, as well as many state-customized versions of those courses, electives, and instructional supports. We have built core courses with the guidance and recommendations of leading educational organizations at the national and state levels. Additionally, through our Adult Learning offerings, we have high-quality, engaging coursework and content in information technology and healthcare.

Instructional Services

We provide a broad range of instructional services that include customer support for instructional teams, including recruitment of state certified teachers, training in research-based online instruction methods and systems, oversight and evaluation services, and ongoing professional development. Stride also provides training options to support teachers and parents to meet students’ learning needs. Our range of training options are designed to enhance skills needed to teach using an online learning platform, and include hands-on training, on-demand courses, and support materials.

Support Services

We provide a broad range of support services, including marketing and enrollment (e.g., supporting prospective students through the admission process), assessment management, administrative support (e.g., budget proposals, financial reporting, and student data reporting), and technology and materials support (e.g., providing student computers, offline learning kits, internet access and technology support services).

Our student recruitment and marketing team is focused on promoting the K-12 online education category and generating enrollments for our virtual school customers. This is achieved by creating awareness and conversion among families with K-12 students through integrated marketing campaigns that include offline and digital media, as well as web assets. These campaigns are continuously optimized using data analytics and market research. The marketing team also assists in enhancing and reducing friction in the onboarding experience of new students to online schooling. Additionally, our marketing team is working to ensure awareness and conversion in our adult learning offerings.

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Public Affairs and School Development

We seek to increase public awareness of the educational and fiscal benefits of our online learning. We receive numerous inquiries from school districts, legislators, public charter school boards, community leaders, state departments of education, educators and parents who express the desire to have a choice in public school options. Our public affairs and school development teams work together with these interested parties to identify and pursue opportunities to expand the use of our products and services in new and existing jurisdictions.

Operations

We are responsible for the sourcing, assembly and delivery of school supplies and materials for our school-as-a-service offerings. We have developed strong relationships with partners allowing us to source goods at favorable price, quality and service levels. Our fulfillment partner stores our inventory, assembles our learning kits and ships 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 a personalized order to fulfill the corresponding new or refurbished learning kits to ship to each student through an end to end efficient and scalable warehousing and fulfillment operation.

Academic Performance

Our fundamental goal for every child who enrolls in our school-as-a-service offerings is to meet the needs of the family, which often includes improving academic performance. While many students come to us behind grade level or under credited, we continually strive to achieve that objective by undertaking new initiatives and improving existing programs that support students and families. To monitor student learning progress during the school year, we use multiple equivalent assessments at the lesson, unit and semester level to provide intervention points to improve outcomes.

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Competition

As a general matter, we face varying degrees of competition from a variety of education companies because the scope of our offerings and the customers we serve encompass many separate and distinct segments of the education business. We compete primarily with companies that provide online curriculum and school support services to K-12 virtual and blended public schools, including Pearson PLC (Connections Academy), Lincoln Learning Solutions, StrongMind, Pansophic Learning, Inspire Charter Schools, and Charter Schools USA, and state administered online programs, among others. We also face competition from digital and print curriculum providers including Curriculum Associates, Imagine Learning LLC, Edmentum Inc., Discovery Education, and traditional textbook publishers such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and McGraw Hill. Other competing digital curriculum providers, including Khan Academy, Duolingo, IXL Learning, Inc. and Renaissance Learning, Inc., offer a different pricing model which provides curriculum at a lower cost (sometimes free) but may charge for additional products or services. We also compete with institutions such as The Laurel Springs School (Spring Education Group) and Penn Foster Inc. for online private pay school students. Additionally, our Adult Learning offerings compete with other in-person and remote immersive programs and self-paced online training programs including General Assembly (a subsidiary of Adecco), Bloom Institute of Technology, Penn Foster Inc. and Education to Go (a subsidiary of Cengage Learning), among others.

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

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Parents in search of an alternative to their full-time local public school have a number of alternatives beyond virtual schools, including private schools, public charter schools and home schooling. In our private schools, we compete for students seeking an English-based K-12 education worldwide. In addition, our educational platform consists of components that face competition from many different types of education companies, such as traditional textbook publishers, test and assessment firms and private education management companies. These learning systems are designed to operate domestically and internationally, and thus, the geographic market for many of our products and services is global and indeterminate in size. Finally, our Adult Learning brands compete with post-secondary providers, both public and private, as well as other certificate and credential providers. They also compete with upskilling and reskilling training programs developed in house by employers.

Other Information

Intellectual Property

We continue to invest in our intellectual property through internal development and by acquisitions as we aim to offer more courses for new grades and expand into adjacent education markets, both in the United States and overseas. Through acquisitions, we have also obtained curriculum, patents and trademarks that expand our portfolio of educational products and services. We continue to add features and tools to our proprietary learning platform and support systems to assist teachers and students and improve educational outcomes, such as adaptive learning technologies. 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.

Our patent portfolio includes four U.S.-issued patents and one foreign-issued patent directed towards various aspects of our educational products and offerings. Two of the U.S.-issued patents encompass our online foreign language instruction. The other two U.S.-issued patents and the foreign-issued patent encompass our system and method for producing, delivering and managing educational material.

We own copyrights related to the lessons contained in the courses that comprise our proprietary curriculum. We also have obtained federal, state and foreign registrations for numerous trademarks that are related to our offerings, and we have applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register certain new trademarks.

We grant licenses to individuals and schools to use our software and access our online learning 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 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.

Human Capital Resources

As of June 30, 2025, we had approximately 8,600 employees (including teachers), and substantially all of these employees are located in the United States. In total, we manage approximately 9,100 teachers, 5,300 of whom are employees and 3,800 who are employed by virtual or blended public schools that we manage under contracts with those schools but are not direct employees of Stride. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement; however, certain schools we serve employ unionized teachers. We believe that our employee relations are good.

Our success depends in large part on continued employment of senior management and key personnel who can effectively operate our business, which is necessary in the highly regulated public education sector involving a publicly traded for-profit company. We believe a critical component to our success depends on the ability to attract, develop and retain key personnel.

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We are an equal opportunity employer. We select and hire based on merit without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by federal, state, or local law. In addition to our annual goals and individual job duties, performance appraisals take into consideration important behavioral attributes that align to our core values of Passion, Accountability, Customer Focus and Teamwork.

We support professional development opportunities that reflect our desire to ‘hire from within’ and to enhance employees’ skillsets in ways that improve their effectiveness and sense of fulfillment. We offer our employees many different professional development opportunities through job-related training and a number of benefit programs, including a Tuition Assistance Benefit, discount tuition options with several participating colleges and universities, and discounted options to access K-12 curriculum.

Corporate Information

Our website address is www.stridelearning.com.

Available Information

We make available, free of charge through the Investors section of our website (www.stridelearning.com), 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 Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), promptly after they are electronically filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). These filings are also available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, which contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. Our earnings conference calls are webcast live via the Investors section of our website. Information contained on our website is expressly not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report.

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Regulation

We and the virtual and blended public schools that we serve are subject to regulation by and laws of each of the states in which we operate. The state laws and regulations that impact our business are primarily those that authorize or restrict our ability to operate these schools, the applicable funding mechanisms for the schools and the increasing number of states with their own, unique privacy laws. To the extent these schools receive federal funds, such as through a grant program or financial support dedicated for the education of low income families, these schools also become subject to additional federal regulation.

State Laws Authorizing or Restricting Virtual and Blended Public Schools. The authority to operate a virtual or blended 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 and blended public schools, the schools are able to operate under these statutes. Other states provide for virtual and blended public schools under existing public 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 and blended public schools or have requirements that effectively prohibit such schools and, as a result, may require new legislation before virtual and blended public schools can open in the state.

Obtaining new legislation in the remaining states where we do not have virtual and blended public schools can be a protracted and uncertain process. When determining whether to pursue expansion into new states in which the laws are ambiguous, we research the relevant legislation and policy climate and then make an assessment of the perceived likelihood of success before deciding to commit resources.

State Laws and Regulations Applicable to Virtual and Blended Public Schools. A virtual or blended public 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 and blended public schools be organized as not-for-profit charters exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The schools must then be organized 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 or blended public school must retain ultimate accountability and control for the school’s operations to retain its

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tax-exempt status. It may not delegate its responsibility and accountability for the school’s operations. Our service agreements with these virtual and blended public schools are, therefore, structured to ensure the full independence of the not-for-profit board and preserve its arms-length ability to exercise its fiduciary obligations to operate a virtual or blended public school.

Laws and regulations affect many aspects of operating a virtual or blended public school. They can dictate the content and sequence of the curriculum, the methods for counting student enrollments for funding purposes, graduation requirements, use of approved textbooks, the length of the school year and the school day, the accessibility of curriculum and technology to students with disabilities, teacher to student ratios, specific credentialing of teachers and administrators, the assessment of student performance and any accountability requirements. In addition, a virtual or blended 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, advanced 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.

In addition to federal laws protecting the privacy of student education records, a growing number of states are enacting laws to protect the privacy of student data and to guard against its misuse. As a general matter, these laws are designed to prevent third-party vendors to schools from using student data for non-educational purposes and ensuring the security of personally identifiable information. In addition, virtual or blended public schools 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 the certification, training, experience and continued professional development of teachers and staff with which a virtual or blended 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. State labor laws applicable to public-sector employees and their rights to organize may also apply to virtual charter schools, such as teachers they employ. A virtual or blended 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. An increasing number of states are also enacting more general laws about personal information that apply regardless of whether the individual is a student.

As with any public school, virtual and blended public schools must comply with state laws and regulations applicable to governmental entities, such as open meetings or sunshine laws, which may require the board of trustees of a virtual or blended public school to provide advance public notice of and 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 or the invalidation of actions taken during meetings that were not properly noticed and open to the public. Virtual and blended 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 and blended public schools.

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

There remains uncertainty about the extent to which virtual and blended public schools we serve may be required to comply with state laws and regulations applicable to traditional public schools because the concept of virtual and blended public schools is still evolving, especially as technology advances. 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. States routinely conduct audits of these schools, to verify enrollment, attendance, information technology security, fiscal accountability, special education services and other regulatory issues. While we may believe that a virtual public school or blended school we serve is compliant with state law, an agency’s different interpretation of law in a particular state, or the application of facts to such law, could result in findings of non-compliance, potentially affecting future funding or repayment of past funding.

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Regulations Restricting Virtual and Blended Public School Growth and Funding. As a public schooling alternative, some state and regulatory authorities have elected to proceed cautiously with virtual and blended public schools. Statutes or 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 or blended public school; caps on the total number of students in a virtual or blended public school; restrictions on grade levels served; geographic limitations on enrollments; fixing the percentage of per pupil funding that must be paid to teachers; states’ specific curriculum requirements; limits on the number of charters that can be granted in a state; and requirements to obtain approval from a student’s resident school district.

Funding regulations for virtual public schools and blended 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 and blended public schools, resulting in lower aggregate funding levels; (iii) teacher contact time—some states have regulations that specify minimum levels of teacher-student face-to-face time; and (iv) completion of course work. These regulations can create logistical challenges for statewide virtual and blended public schools, reduce funding and eliminate some of the economic, academic and technological advantages of virtual learning.

Federal and State Grants. We have worked with some entities to secure public and grant funding that flows to virtual and blended public schools that we serve. These grants are awarded to the local or state education agency or to the not-for-profit entity that holds the charter of the virtual or blended 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.

Federal Laws Applicable to Virtual Public Schools and Blended Schools

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

Every Student Succeeds Act (“ESSA”). Under the ESSA, the states have the discretion to develop and design their own accountability systems within a broad federal framework. In addition, states have been given the authority to adopt different types of annual accountability plans for school performance, including proficiency and growth standards for all students and subgroups. The ESSA makes clear that the U.S. Department of Education has a limited role to impose federal mandates, direction or control over the authority given to the states. Notwithstanding these federal limitations, states are still required under ESSA to test students in reading or language arts and math annually in grades 3-8 and once in grades 10-12, and in science once in each of the following grade spans: 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12. All states have plans approved by the U.S. Department of Education to demonstrate compliance with ESSA.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”). The IDEA is implemented through regulations governing every aspect of the special education of a child with one or more specific disabilities that fit within any of the disability categories listed in the Act. The IDEA created a responsibility on the part of a school to identify students who may qualify under the IDEA and to perform periodic assessments to determine the students’ needs for services. A student who qualifies for services under the IDEA must have in place an individual education plan, which must be updated at least annually, created by a team consisting of school personnel, the student, and the parent. This plan must be implemented in a setting where the child with a disability is educated with non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate. IDEA provides the student and parents with numerous due process rights relating to the student’s program and education, including the right to seek mediation of disputes and make complaints to the state education agency. The schools we manage are responsible for helping ensure the requirements of IDEA are met. The virtual public schools and blended schools are required to comply with certain requirements in IDEA concerning teacher certification and training. We, the virtual public school or the blended school could be required to provide additional staff, related services, supplemental aids and services or a private school option at our own cost to comply with the requirement to provide a free appropriate public education to each child covered under the IDEA. If we fail to meet this requirement, we, the virtual public school or blended school could lose federal funding and could be liable for compensatory educational services, reimbursement to the parent for educational services the parent provided and payment of the parent’s attorney’s fees.

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. A virtual public school or blended school receiving federal funds is subject to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”) insofar as the regulations

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implementing the Act govern the education of students with disabilities as well as personnel and parents. Section 504 prohibits discrimination against a person on the basis of disability in any program receiving federal financial assistance if the person is otherwise qualified to participate in or receive benefit from the program. Students with disabilities not specifically listed in the IDEA may be entitled to specialized instruction or related services pursuant to Section 504 if their disability substantially limits a major life activity. Beginning in 2011, the Office of Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education interpreted both Section 504 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act to apply to elementary and secondary schools and to require that students with disabilities be afforded substantially equivalent ease of use as students without disabilities. As applied to online public schools, such “web accessibility” requires technical capabilities similar to those applied to procurements of information technology by the federal government under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 508”) or standards adopted by the world-wide web consortium, such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) Level A and Level AA. If a school fails to comply with the requirements and the procedural safeguards of Section 504, it may lose federal funds even though these funds flow indirectly to the school through a local board. In the case of bad faith or intentional wrongdoing, some courts have awarded monetary damages to prevailing parties in Section 504 lawsuits. Because there is no federal rule setting a uniform technical standard for determining web accessibility under Section 508 and Title II of the ADA, online service providers have no uniform standard of compliance. Some states have adopted the standards promulgated under Section 508, while others require WCAG Level A and/or Level AA or their own unique standards.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”). Virtual public schools and blended schools are also subject to the FERPA which protects the privacy of a student’s educational records and generally prohibits a school from disclosing a student’s records to a third party without the parent’s prior consent. The law also gives parents certain procedural rights with respect to their minor children’s education records. A school’s failure to comply with this law may result in termination of its eligibility to receive federal education funds. Schools that contract with vendors that violate FERPA may be prohibited from contracting with the vendor for five years.

Communications Decency Act. The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (“CDA”) provides protection for online service providers against legal action being taken against them because of certain actions of others. For example, the CDA states that no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any data given by another provider of information content. Further, Section 230 of the CDA grants interactive online services of all types, broad immunity from tort liability so long as the information at issue is provided or posted by a third party. As part of our technology services offering, we provide an online school platform on which teachers and students may communicate. We also conduct live classroom sessions using Internet-based collaboration software and we may offer certain online community platforms for students and parents. While the CDA affords us with some protection from liability associated with the interactive online services we offer, there are exceptions to the CDA that could result in successful actions against us that give rise to financial liability.

Other Federal Laws. Other federal laws also apply to virtual managed schools, in some cases depending on the demographics associated with a school. For example, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been deemed to apply to English language learners (“ELL”) Students, as further defined in the joint guidance issued by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education in January 2015. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 also applies, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in education programs, activities and employment, applies to all schools that receive federal funds. There are also other federal laws and regulations that affect other aspects of our business such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), which imposes certain parental notice and other requirements on us that are directed to children under 13 years of age who access the web-based schools we manage. In addition, the Children’s Internet Protection Act requires that school districts that receive certain types of federal funding must ensure that they have technology which blocks or filters certain material from being accessed through the Internet. We have developed procedures by which computers that we ship to students meet this requirement. Many other federal and state laws, such as deceptive trade practices laws, the Lanham Act and others apply to us, just as they do to other businesses. If we fail to comply with these and other federal laws, we could be determined ineligible to receive funds from federal programs or face penalties.

Laws and Regulations Applicable to Consumer Education Products offered by Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts

State Laws Authorizing or Restricting Private Post-Secondary Schools. The authority to operate a private post-secondary 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, with regulatory authority vesting under various state agencies. Galvanize,

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Tech Elevator and MedCerts each currently operate in a multi-jurisdictional regulatory environment, maintaining licenses in several states. In states that have implemented specific legislation to license and oversee private post-secondary schools, Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts are able to operate under these statutes. State laws and regulations affect many aspects of operating a private post-secondary school, including, but not limited to, requiring the content and sequence of the curriculum, the methodology for counting student enrollments and reporting outcomes, graduation requirements, the duration of the approved program, the accessibility of curriculum and technology to students with disabilities, specific credentialing of teachers and administrators, the assessment of student performance, accountability requirements, and compliance with student record collection and retention requirements.

Other types of state regulations applicable to private post-secondary schools include, but are not limited to, restrictions on the use of scholarships and tuition discounts, student payment policies and the collection of and use of student fees, accounting and financial management, and limitations on marketing and advertising practices. States also have laws and regulations concerning the certification, training, experience and continued professional development of teachers and staff with which private post-secondary schools may be required to comply. Additionally, state unfair competition and consumer protection laws and regulations apply to Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts in their dealings with the public, which include limitations on advertising, disclosures, and the structure of financing methods for consumer customers as well as registration requirements under state consumer finance laws. Lastly, additional regulations and student outcome reporting requirements may affect Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts should they seek funding related to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act in any given state.

Federal Laws Applicable

None of Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts qualifies or receives Title IV funding under the Higher Education Act, but each of them is eligible for federal funding through its respective veterans education and workforce programs. As such, each is required to comply with the anti-discrimination provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and all Federal regulations adopted to carry out such laws. If we fail to comply with these federal laws, we could be determined ineligible to receive funds from federal programs or face penalties. Galvanize also provides training services to active duty service members subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulations and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement.

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Laws and Regulations Applicable to Our Products offered Directly to Consumers

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Our business also encompasses individual products packaged and sold directly to consumers, including elements of Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts, along with products for child education, including individual online courses and supplemental educational products. A variety of federal, state and non-U.S. laws and regulations apply to this aspect of our business, including laws and regulations related to consumer protection, payments, marketing and advertising, taxation, privacy, data security, and artificial intelligence.

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See risk factors under Item 1A, "Risk Factors – Risks Related to Government Funding and Regulation of Public Education” for additional information about the risks that may impact our business.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Risk Factors Summary

The following summary description sets forth an overview of the material risks we are exposed to in the normal course of our business activities. The summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full risk factor discussion immediately following this summary description. Our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as your investment in our common stock, could be materially and adversely affected by any of the following material risks:

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Risks Related to Government Funding and Regulation of Public Education

The majority of our revenues come from our comprehensive school-as-a-service offering in both the General Education and Career Learning markets and depends on per pupil funding amounts and payment formulas remaining near the levels existing at the time we execute service agreements with the schools we serve. If those funding levels or formulas are materially reduced or modified due to economic conditions or political opposition, or new restrictions are 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 with a majority of our revenue coming from our comprehensive school-as-a-service offerings in both the General Education and Career Learning markets. Budget appropriations for education at all levels of government are determined through a legislative process that may be affected by negative views of for-profit education companies, recessionary conditions in the economy at large, or significant declines in public school funding. The results of federal and state elections can also result in shifts in education policy and the amount of funding available for various education programs.

The political process and potential variability in general economic conditions, including due to possible pandemics, changing interest rates, rising inflation and geo-political instability, create a number of risks that could have an adverse effect on our business including the following:
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Failure to comply with regulatory requirements, poor academic performance, or misconduct by us or operators of other virtual public schools could tarnish the reputation of all the school operators in our industry, which could have a negative impact on our business or lead to punitive legislation.

As a non-traditional form of public education, online public school operators will be subject to scrutiny, perhaps even greater than that applied to traditional brick and mortar public schools or public charter schools. Not all virtual public schools will have successful academic programs or operate efficiently, and new entrants may not perform well either. Such underperformance could create the impression that virtual schooling is not an effective way to educate students, whether or not our learning systems achieve satisfactory performance. Consistently poor academic performance, or the perception of poor performance, could also lead to closure of an online public school or termination of an approved provider status in some jurisdictions, or to passage of legislation empowering the state to restructure or close low-performing schools. A 2025 Arkansas law amends the state’s charter school law, requiring that a charter school that performs poorly for three consecutive years have its authorization to operate revoked.

Beyond academic performance issues, some virtual school operators, including us, have been subject to governmental investigations alleging, among other things, false attendance reporting, the misuse of public funds or failures in regulatory compliance. Beyond academic performance issues, some virtual school operators, including us, have been subject to governmental investigations alleging, among other things, false attendance reporting, the misuse of public funds or failures in regulatory compliance. These allegations have attracted significant adverse media coverage and have prompted legislative hearings and regulatory responses. Investigations have focused on specific companies and individuals, or even entire industries, such as the industry-wide investigation of for-profit virtual schools initiated by the Attorney General of California in 2015. The precise impact of these governmental investigations on our current and future business is difficult to discern, in part because of the number of states in which we operate and the range of purported malfeasance or performance issues involved. Investigations have focused on specific companies and individuals, or even entire industries, such as the industry-wide investigation of for-profit virtual schools initiated by the Attorney General of California in 2015. The precise impact of these governmental investigations on our current and future business is difficult to discern, in part because of the number of states in which we operate and the range of purported malfeasance or performance issues involved. If these situations, or any additional alleged misconduct, cause all virtual public schools to be viewed by the public and/or policymakers unfavorably, we may find it difficult to expand into new states or renew our contracts with our clients.

Opponents of public charter schools, including virtual and blended, 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 public policy lawsuits by those who do not share our belief in the value of this form of public education or the involvement of for-profit education management companies. Whether we are a named party to these lawsuits, 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 that can potentially affect us. For example, the Louisiana Association of Educators, an affiliate of a national teachers union, sought to terminate funding on state constitutional grounds to certain types of charter schools through the judicial process (including to a public school we serve), and while the teachers union was initially successful, the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed that decision in March 2018. See Iberville Parish School Board v. Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Should we fail to comply with the laws and regulations applicable to our business, such failures could result in a loss of public 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 and blended public schools are generally subject to extensive regulation, as are the school districts we serve. These regulations cover specific program standards and financial requirements including, but are not limited to: (i) student eligibility standards; (ii) numeric and geographic limitations or caps on enrollments; (iii) state-specific curriculum requirements and standards; (iv) restrictions on open-enrollment policies by and among districts; (v) prescribed teacher-to-student ratios and teacher funding allocations from per pupil funding; (vi) teacher certification and reporting requirements; and (vii) virtual school attendance reporting. These regulations cover specific program standards and financial requirements including, but not limited to: (i) student eligibility standards; (ii) numeric and geographic limitations or caps on enrollments; (iii) state-specific curriculum requirements and standards; (iv) restrictions on open-enrollment policies by and among districts; (v) prescribed teacher-to-student ratios and teacher funding allocations from per pupil funding; (vi) teacher certification and reporting requirements; and (vii) virtual school attendance reporting. State and federal funding authorities conduct regular program and financial audits of the public schools we serve to ensure compliance with applicable regulations. If a final determination of non-compliance is made, funds may be withheld, which could impair that school’s

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ability to pay us for services in a timely manner, or the school could be required to repay funds received during the period of non-compliance. Additionally, the indemnity provisions in our standard service agreements, with virtual and blended public schools and school districts, may require us to return any contested funds on behalf of the school.

As an emerging form of public education with unique attributes, enabling legislation for online public schools 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 and blended 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 such state’s enabling legislation often does not address specific issues, such as what constitutes proper documentation for enrollment eligibility or attendance reporting in a virtual or blended school. From time to time there are changes to the regulators’ approaches to determining the eligibility of students for funding purposes. Another issue may be differing interpretations on what constitutes a student’s substantial completion of a semester in a public school or daily attendance requirements. These regulatory uncertainties may lead to disputes over our ability to invoice and receive payments for services rendered, or to disputes with auditors of public schools, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, in October 2017, the California Department of Education commenced an audit covering, among other things, the average daily attendance records and associated funding provided to the California Virtual Academies (“CAVAs”), dependent on the proper method of counting the time-value and daily engagement of students enrolled in independent study programs provided by non-classroom based charter schools and the regulations applicable to such programs and schools.

The operation of virtual and blended public charter 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 and blended public schools operate under a charter that is granted by a state or local authorizer 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 2025, a majority of our revenue was derived from our comprehensive school-as-a-service offerings in both the General Education and Career Learning markets, the majority of which were virtual and blended public schools operating under a charter. The service and products agreements for these schools are with the charter holder or the charter board. Non-profit public charter schools qualifying for exemption from federal taxation under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) as charitable organizations must also operate on an arms-length basis in accordance with Internal Revenue Service rules and policies to maintain that status and their funding eligibility. In addition, many state public charter school statutes require periodic reauthorization. If a virtual or blended public school we support fails to maintain its tax-exempt status and funding eligibility, fails to renew its charter, 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 fiscal year 2018, our contract with the Insight School of Ohio was terminated because the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation terminated the charter of Insight School of Ohio.

Actual or alleged misconduct by current or former directors, officers, key employees or officials could make it more difficult for us to enter into new contracts or renew existing contracts. Actual or alleged misconduct by current or former directors, officers, key employees or officials could make it more difficult for us to enter into new contracts or renew existing contracts.

If we or any of our current or former directors, officers, key employees, or officials are accused or found to be guilty of serious crimes or civil violations, including the mismanagement or improper accounting of public funds, or violations of the federal securities laws, the schools we serve could be barred or discouraged from entering into or renewing service agreements with us. As a result, our business and revenues would be adversely affected.

New laws or regulations could be enacted and negatively impact our operations and financial results.

As the provision of online K-12 public education matures, policy or business practice issues may arise that could lead to the enactment of new laws or regulations similar to, or in addition to, laws or regulations applicable to other education industry sectors. For example, for-profit education companies that own and operate post-secondary colleges and programs depend in significant part on student loans provided by the federal government to cover tuition expenses and income sharing agreements, and federal laws prohibit incentive compensation for success in securing enrollments or financial aid to any person engaged in student recruiting or admission activities. In contrast, while students in virtual or

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blended public K-12 schools are entitled to a public education with no federal or state loans necessary for tuition, laws could be enacted that make for-profit management companies serving such schools subject to similar recruitment or other restrictions. In keeping with good business practices, we do not award or permit incentive compensation to be paid to our public school program enrollment staff or contractors based on the number of students enrolled. New laws that specifically target for-profit education companies or education management organizations from operating public charter schools could also adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operation.

Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry

The schools we contract with and serve are governed by independent governing bodies that may shift their priorities or change objectives in ways that are adverse to us and to the students who attend the school programs we administer, or they may react negatively to acquisitions or other transactions.

We contract with and provide a majority of our products and services to virtual and blended 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 resulting in changes adverse to our business or the students enrolled in those schools. The governing boards of the schools we serve in which we hire the Principal or Executive Director (“ED”) may seek to employ their own Principal or ED as a condition for contract renewal. The governing boards of the schools we serve in which we hire the Principal or Head of School (“HoS”) may seek to employ their own HoS as a condition for contract renewal. This decision may potentially reduce the value of the programs they purchase from us by structurally separating the Principal or ED from regular involvement with our virtual school management experts, employee-based professional development programs, and internal understanding of the proprietary curriculum and innovations we develop to improve academic performance. This decision may potentially reduce the value of the programs they purchase from us by structurally separating the HoS from regular involvement with our virtual school management experts, employee-based professional development programs, and internal understanding of the proprietary curriculum and innovations we develop to improve academic performance. As these independent boards shift their priorities or change objectives, reduce or modify the scope of services and products we provide, or terminate their relationships with us, our ability to generate revenues consistently over time or to improve academic outcomes would be adversely affected.

Our contracts for a school-as-a-service offering are subject to periodic renewal, and each year, some 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.

In fiscal year 2025, we had contracts for our school-as-a-service offerings for 89 schools in 31 states and the District of Columbia. A portion of these contracts are scheduled to expire in any given year and may not be renewed, or may be renewed on terms much less favorable to us. Most of these contracts include auto renewal provisions having significant advance notice deadlines. The advance notice provisions are intended to allow sufficient time to engage in renewal negotiations before and during the final year of these contracts. The advance notice provisions are intended to allow sufficient time to engage in renewal negotiations before and during the final year of these contracts. A renewed contract could involve a restructuring of our services and management arrangements that could lower our revenue or even change how revenue and expenses are recognized. When the customer prefers the existing contract terms to be extended, it can elect to disregard the advance notice provision and have the contract automatically renew. If we are unable to renew contracts or if contract renewals have significantly less favorable terms or unbundle previously provided services, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow could be adversely affected.

If the schools we serve fail to enroll or re-enroll a sufficient number of students, or we fail to enroll a significant number of students in the programs for adult learners, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.If the schools we serve fail to enroll or re-enroll a sufficient number of students, or we fail to enroll a significant number of students in the Career Learning programs for adult learners, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

A majority of our revenues are a direct function of how many students are enrolled in our school-as-a-service offerings, the number of school districts and students who subscribe to such district programs, and the enrollments in our international and private schools.

Because families have alternative choices both within and outside the public school system for educating their children, it is typical during each school year that some students withdraw from schools using our online education services and switch to their traditional local public schools, other charter school alternatives or private schools. While many of our school-as-a-service offerings also accept new student enrollment throughout the year where permitted, generally our average student enrollment declines as the school year progresses such that we serve on average fewer students at the end of any given school year than at the beginning of the year. If our school-as-a-service offerings experience higher withdrawal rates during the year and/or enroll fewer new students as the year progresses than we have experienced in the past, our revenues, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

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Similarly, at the start of each new school year, students who had remained enrolled through the end of the previous year may have graduated from the terminal grade in a school or have left our school-as-a-service offerings for any number of reasons. To the extent our school-as-a-service offerings do not retain previously enrolled students from the prior year, they must attract new students at the start of the year to sustain their average student enrollment year over year, as well as to grow their enrollment each year, based upon enrollment objectives determined by the governing authority of those schools. If the schools we serve in the aggregate are able only to sustain prior year enrollment levels, our revenues may not grow from the prior year, absent improved revenue capture or the addition of new schools. More fundamentally, if average student enrollment at the schools we serve declines from one year to the next, our revenues, results of operations and financial condition will be adversely affected.

We also contract with virtual public schools and school districts to provide marketing and enrollment services, and we provide similar services directly to our international and private schools. However, many of these customers are responsible for their own marketing and enrollment activities. Efforts on our part to sustain or increase enrollments in the face of higher student withdrawals or fewer returning students at the start of a school year may lead to higher costs for us, and may adversely affect our operating margin. If we or the virtual public schools and school districts are unsuccessful in marketing plans or enrollment processes for the schools, the average student enrollment at the schools may not grow or could even decline, and adversely affect our revenues, results of operations and financial condition.

We also derive revenues from our Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts offerings to adult learners. The vast majority of the enrollments in these programs are for shorter periods of time, and re-enrollments are not typical due to the nature of these offerings. Thus, we must continually attract and enroll new adult learners in order to maintain our revenues at current levels or grow our revenues. Efforts on our part to sustain or increase enrollments in the face of lower enrollments compared to prior periods may lead to higher costs for us, and may adversely affect our operating margin. Efforts on our part to sustain or increase enrollments in the face of lower enrollments compared to prior periods may lead to higher costs for us, and may adversely affect our operating margin. If we are unsuccessful in marketing plans or enrollment processes for these programs for adult learners, the average enrollment in our Galvanize, Tech Elevator or MedCerts offerings may not grow or could even decline, which could adversely affect our revenues, results of operations and financial condition.

The enrollment data we present is subject to certain limitations and may not fully capture trends in the performance of our business.

We periodically disclose enrollment data for students in our General Education and Career Learning lines of revenue. However, this data may not fully capture trends in the performance of our business for a number of reasons, including:

Accordingly, changes in enrollment data may not entirely correspond with changes in the financial performance of our business, and if the mix of enrollments changes, our revenues will be impacted to the extent the average revenues per enrollments are significantly different.

Because the independent governing authorities of our customers may shift priorities or incur new obligations which have financial consequences, we may be exposed to the risk of loss resulting from the nonpayment or nonperformance by our customers and our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could suffer.

The independent boards or similar governing bodies may shift their priorities or incur new obligations, which may have financial consequences on our customers. If our customers were to cause or be subjected to situations that lead

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to a weakened financial condition, dispute our invoices, withhold payments, or file for bankruptcy, we could experience difficulty and prolonged delays in collecting receivables, if at all. Any nonpayment or nonperformance by our customers could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. For example, in fiscal year 2017, as the Agora Cyber Charter School continued to operate as a self-managed charter school, it delayed its payments to us and our accounts receivable from the school grew significantly, resulting in a revised payment schedule agreement, which accompanied a contract extension.

As we continue to refine our marketing efforts, and support the enrollment activities for our school-as-a-service offerings and adult learning programs, changes in our marketing efforts and enrollment activities could lead to a decline in overall enrollment at the schools we serve or at the adult learning programs we offer.

As parents evaluate school choices for their children, we are segmenting our marketing efforts to better attract students who are most likely to benefit from and succeed in virtual education programs and who are likely to remain enrolled with a virtual school over several years. Our research leads us to believe that students with parents who are active and regularly engaged in their education are more likely to be successful in a virtual school. In some cases, the governing authorities of these schools may request different enrollment policies or criteria. Our marketing efforts, therefore, may not be wholly successful, and could lead to an overall decline in enrollment for our school-as-a-service offering, thus adversely affecting our revenue, results of operations and financial condition. Our marketing efforts, therefore, may not be wholly successful, and could lead to an overall decline in enrollment for our school-as-a-service, thus adversely affecting our revenue, results of operations and financial condition.

Additionally, for our Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts offerings to adult learners, we are focusing our marketing and enrollment efforts to identify and attract adult learners in the software engineering, healthcare and medical fields, as well as providing staffing and talent development services to employers and government agencies. However, our marketing efforts may not be successful. As a result, our overall enrollment in these adult learning programs may decline, and our revenue, results of operations, and financial condition may be adversely affected.

The student demographics of the schools we serve can lead to higher costs and affect our ability to sustain or grow our operating income.

The schools we serve are publicly funded and are generally obligated to accept all students meeting state or district criteria for enrollment. Because an online education environment may offer a better educational opportunity for students falling behind grade level, our school-as-a-service offerings have experienced in recent years a higher academically at-risk student population, requiring supplemental student and family support services and closer one-on-one involvement by teachers and school personnel, leading to higher costs to us in providing full management and curriculum services to the schools. We consider students academically at-risk if they were not proficient on the previous year’s state assessment, are credit-deficient, have previously dropped out, have failed courses, or score lower than average on diagnostic norm-referenced assessments. Some states have additional or different indicators to determine students who are at risk. These factors are used by the state to identify at-risk students in several states and have been found through research to impact future student performance. The schools we serve also enroll a significant percentage of special needs students with learning and/or physical disabilities, which also adds to the total costs incurred by the schools.

Education of high school students is generally more costly than K-8 as more teachers with subject matter expertise (e.g., chemistry, calculus) must be hired to support an expansive curriculum, electives, and counseling services. As the relative percentage of high school students increases as part of the total average enrollment in our school-as-a-service offerings, our costs are likely to increase.

As our cost structure evolves due to the demographics, educational profile and mix of the students enrolled in our school-as-a-service offerings, our profit margins may decline, and we may have increasing difficulty in sustaining or growing our operating income commensurate with our revenues.

If student performance falls, state accountability standards are not achieved, teachers or administrators tamper with state test scoring or graduation standards, or parent and student satisfaction declines, a significant number of students may not remain enrolled in a virtual or blended public school that we serve, charters may not be renewed, or enrollment caps could be put in place, or enrollment practices could be limited, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be adversely affected.

The success of our business depends in part on the choice of a family to have their child begin or continue his or her education in a virtual or blended public school that we serve. This decision is based on many factors, including student

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performance and parent and student satisfaction. Students may perform significantly below state averages or the virtual or blended public school may fail to meet state accountability standards. Like many traditional brick and mortar public schools, not all of the public schools we serve meet the requirements of their applicable accountability frameworks, as large numbers of new enrollments from students underperforming in traditional schools can decrease overall results or the underperformance of any one subgroup can lead to the entire school failing to meet accountability expectations and potentially lead to the school’s closure. For example, in Tennessee, the Commissioner of Education has statutory authority to close a virtual school if an accountability trigger is met. In addition, although serving academically at-risk students is an important aspect of our obligation to educate any child regardless of circumstance, the performance of these students can adversely affect a school’s standing under applicable accountability standards. We expect that, as our enrollments increase and the portion of students that have not used our learning systems for multiple years increases, the average performance of all students using our learning systems may decrease, even if the individual performance of other students improves over time. This effect may also be exacerbated if students enrolled in schools that we provide services to or acquire are predominately below state proficiency standards or experience low graduation rates. For example, at-risk students who attended the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) schools in Ohio, which were closed in mid-school year 2017-18 by state regulators, and who then transferred to other public schools, including the Ohio Virtual Academy supported by us, could negatively impact a receiving school’s overall academic performance ratings absent a different accountability measure applicable to such students or waiver of such standards. Moreover, under ESSA, state authorities may change their accountability frameworks in ways that negatively impact the schools we serve.

Students in the school-as-a-service offerings we serve are required to complete standardized state testing, and the frequency and the results of this testing may have an impact on school enrollment. The significant increase of testing undertaken at the state level has led some parents to opt out of state assessments, a parental right which is now codified in the ESSA, thereby resulting in an incomplete and potentially inaccurate assessment of school and student performance. To avoid the consequences of failing to meet applicable required proficiency, growth or accountability standards, teachers or school administrators may engage in improperly altering student test scores or graduation standards, especially if teacher performance and compensation are evaluated on these results. Finally, parent and student satisfaction may decline as not all parents and students are able to devote the substantial time and effort necessary to complete our curriculum. A student’s satisfaction may also suffer if his or her relationship with the virtual or blended public school teacher does not meet expectations. If student performance or satisfaction declines, students may decide not to remain enrolled in a virtual or blended public school that we serve, charters may not be renewed or enrollment caps could be put in place, or enrollment practices could be limited, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. If student performance or satisfaction declines, students may decide not to remain enrolled in a virtual or blended public school that we serve and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Compliance with curriculum standards and assessments for individual state determinations under the ESSA may create ongoing challenges to ensure that our curriculum products align with state requirements, which could possibly cause academic performance to decline and dissatisfaction by our school customers which could limit our growth and profitability.

Under the ESSA, states will set their own curriculum standards in reading, math and science, and the federal government is prohibited from mandating or incentivizing states to adopt any set of particular standards, such as Common Core. States were also given the authority under the ESSA to craft their own assessment programs to measure the proficiency of their students for college and career readiness, and may also choose to offer already available nationally recognized assessments at the high school level, such as the SAT or ACT tests. As implementation proceeds at the state level, and use of the assessments previously developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium consortia continues to erode, a multitude of different standards and assessments may emerge and result in temporary misalignments of our curriculum offerings with state standards, cause academic performance to decline, create a need for additional teacher training and product investments, all of which could adversely affect our relationship with public school contracting with us for a school-as-a-service offering and school district customers, financial condition, contract renewals and reputation.

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures present many risks, and we may not realize the financial and strategic goals that formed the basis for the transaction.

When strategic opportunities arise to expand our business, we may acquire or invest in other companies using cash, stock, debt, asset contributions or any combination thereof, such as the acquisitions of Galvanize in January 2020, Tech Elevator in November 2020 and MedCerts in November 2020. We may face risks in connection with these or other future transactions, including the possibility that we may not realize the anticipated cost and revenue synergies on a timely basis, or at all, or further the strategic purpose of any acquisition if our forecasts do not materialize. The pursuit of

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acquisitions and their integrations may divert the resources that could otherwise be used to support and grow our existing lines of business. The combination of two or more independent enterprises is a complex, costly and time-consuming process. Acquisitions may create multiple and overlapping product lines that are offered, priced and supported differently, which could cause customer confusion and delays in service. Acquisitions may create multiple and overlapping product lines that are offered, priced and supported differently, which could cause customer confusion and delays in service. We may have difficulties coordinating sales and marketing efforts to effectively position the combined company’s capabilities. Customers may decline to renew their contracts, or the contracts of acquired businesses might not allow us to recognize revenues on the same basis. These transactions and their integrations may also divert our management’s attention, and our ongoing business may be disrupted by acquisition, transition or integration activities. In addition, we may have difficulty separating, transitioning and integrating an acquired company’s systems, including but not limited to, financial accounting systems, information technology systems, transaction processing systems, internal controls and standards, and procedures and policies, and the associated costs in doing so may be higher than we anticipate.

There may also be other adverse effects on our business, operating results or financial condition associated with the expansion of our business through acquisitions. We may fail to identify or assess the magnitude of certain liabilities, shortcomings or other circumstances prior to acquiring a company or technology, which could result in unexpected operating expenses, unexpected accounting treatment, unexpected increases in taxes due or a loss of anticipated tax benefits. The acquired companies may not be able to achieve the levels of revenue, earnings or operating efficiency that we expect. Our use of cash to pay for acquisitions may limit other potential uses of our cash, including investment in other areas of our business, stock repurchases, dividend payments and retirement of outstanding indebtedness. If we issue a significant amount of equity for future acquisitions, existing stockholders may be diluted and earnings per share may decrease. We may pay more than the acquired company or assets are ultimately worth and we may have underestimated our costs in continuing the support and development of an acquired company’s offerings. Our operating results may be adversely impacted by liabilities resulting from a stock or asset acquisition, which may be costly, disruptive to our business, or lead to litigation.

We may be unable to obtain required approvals from governmental authorities on a timely basis, if at all, which could, among other things, delay or prevent us from completing a transaction, otherwise restrict our ability to realize the expected financial or strategic goals of an acquisition or have other adverse effects on our current business and operations. We may face contingencies related to intellectual property, financial disclosures, accounting practices, or internal controls. Finally, we may not be able to retain key executives of an acquired company.

To execute our business plans, we depend upon the experience and industry knowledge of our officers and other key employees, including those who joined us as part of the Galvanize, Tech Elevator, and MedCerts acquisitions. The combined company’s success will depend, in part, upon our ability to retain key management personnel and other key employees, some of which may experience uncertainty about their future roles with the combined company as a result of the acquisition. This may have a material adverse effect on our ability to attract and retain key personnel.

The occurrence of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows, particularly in the case of a larger acquisition or several concurrent acquisitions.

Our business could be negatively affected as a result of actions by activist stockholders, and such activism could impact the trading value of our securities and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Responding to actions by activist stockholders can be costly and time consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of management and our employees. If activist stockholders were to emerge, their activities could interfere with our ability to execute our strategic plan and divert resources from our business. In addition, a proxy contest for the election of directors at our annual meeting would require us to incur significant legal fees and proxy solicitation expenses and require significant time and attention of management and our Board of Directors. Any perceived uncertainties as to our future direction also could affect the market price and volatility of our securities, cause key executives to leave the Company, adversely affect the relationships we have with our school board customers, and harm existing and new business prospects.

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

While historically we grew by opening new virtual public schools in new states, in recent years the pace of state expansion has declined while opening more schools in existing states has increased. In fiscal year 2025, we served 89 virtual public schools and blended schools in 31 states and the District of Columbia. Without adding additional states, our school-as-a-service revenues may become increasingly dependent on serving more virtual schools in existing states. We may also not be able to fill available enrollment slots as forecasted. If the market demand for virtual and blended public schools does not increase or declines, if the remaining states are hesitant to authorize virtual or blended public schools, if enrollment caps are not removed or raised, or if the funding of such schools is inadequate, our opportunities for growth and our ability to sustain our revenues, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

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

As a general matter, we face varying degrees of competition from a variety of education providers because our learning systems integrate all the elements of the education development and delivery process, including curriculum development, textbook publishing, teacher training and support, lesson planning, testing and assessment, job placement and industry-certified content, and school performance and compliance management. In both our General Education and Career Learning markets, we compete with companies that provide online curriculum and support services. We also compete with public school districts and state departments of education that offer K-12 online programs of their own or in partnership with other online curriculum vendors. As we pursue our post-secondary Career Learning strategic initiatives through our Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts subsidiaries, we are competing with corporate training businesses and some employers that offer education as an employee benefit. As we pursue our post-secondary Career Learning strategic initiatives through our Galvanize, Tech Elevator and MedCerts subsidiaries, we will be competing with corporate training businesses and some employers that offer education as an employee benefit. We anticipate intensifying competition both from existing competitors and new entrants. Our competitors may adopt superior curriculum content, technology and learning platforms, school support or marketing approaches, and may have different pricing and service packages that may have greater appeal than our offerings. In addition, some of our school-as-a-service offerings could seek to transition to a self-managed school by inviting competitive alternatives to portions of the products and services now provided entirely by us under our integrated fully managed service agreements. If we are unable to successfully compete for new business, win and renew contracts, including fully managed public school contracts, or students fail to realize sufficient gains in academic performance, our revenues, opportunities for 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 competition from publishers of traditional educational materials that are substantially larger than we are and have significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources, and may enter the field through acquisitions and mergers. Many of these traditional publishers, or new market entrants, have developed their own online curriculum products and teaching materials that compete directly with our post-secondary Career Learning products. As a result, they may be able to devote more resources and move quickly 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 that we will have the financial resources, technical expertise, marketing, distribution or support capabilities to compete effectively.

Regulatory frameworks on the accessibility of technology and curriculum are continually evolving due to legislative and administrative developments and the rapid evolution of technology, which could result in increased product development costs and compliance risks.

Our online curriculum is made available to students through websites, computers and other display devices connected to the Internet. The website platforms and online curriculum include a combination of software applications that include graphics, pictures, videos, animations, sounds and interactive content that may present challenges to

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individuals with disabilities. A number of states and federal authorities have considered or are considering how web-based information should be made accessible to persons with such disabilities. To the extent they enact or interpret laws and regulations to require greater accessibility than we currently provide, we may have to modify our offerings to satisfy those requirements. Because there is no federal rule setting a uniform technical standard for determining web accessibility under Section 508 and Title II of the ADA, online service providers have no uniform standard of compliance. Some states have adopted the standards promulgated under Section 508 while others require WCAG Level A and/or Level AA or their own unique standards. In addition, Section 504 is designed to ensure that students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to access each school’s website and online learning environment. In addition, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is designed to ensure that students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to access each school’s website and online learning environment. To the extent that we enter into federal government contracts, different standards of compliance could be imposed on us under Section 508, or by states who apply these federal standards under Section 508 or other standards to education providers, which standards may be changed from time to time. To the extent that we enter into federal government contracts, different standards of compliance could be imposed on us under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, or by states who apply these federal standards under Section 508 or other standards to education providers, which standards may be changed from time to time. Beyond the significant product development costs associated with these evolving regulations, a failure to meet such requirements could also result in loss or termination of material contracts, inability to secure new contracts, or in potential legal liability. Beyond the significant product development costs associated with these evolving regulations, a failure to meet such requirements could also result in loss or termination of material contracts, inability to secure new contracts, or in potential legal liability.

Our revenues from our school-as-a-service offerings 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 expenses to be incurred by each school. As a result, differences between our quarterly estimates and the actual funds received and expenses incurred could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and cash flows.

We recognize revenues ratably from certain of our fees charged to school-as-a-service offerings over the course of our fiscal year. To determine the pro rata amount of revenues to recognize in a fiscal quarter, we estimate the total expected funds each school will receive in a particular school year. Additionally, we take responsibility for any operating deficits incurred at most of the school-as-a-service offerings we serve. Because this may impair our ability to collect the full amount invoiced in a period and therefore collection cannot reasonably be assured, we reduce revenues by the estimated pro rata amount of the school’s net operating loss. We review our estimates of total funds and operating expenses periodically, and we revise as necessary, by adjusting our year-to-date earned revenues to be proportional to the expected revenues to be earned during the fiscal year. Actual school funding received and school operating expenses incurred may vary from our estimates or revisions and could adversely impact our revenues, results of operations and cash flows.

Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuations, which may cause our operating results to fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter and adversely impact our working capital and liquidity throughout the year.

Our 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 school customers 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. Instructional costs and services increase in the first fiscal quarter, primarily due to the costs incurred to ship 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 April through September.

We expect quarterly fluctuations in our 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 sequential quarterly comparisons of our financial results may not provide an accurate assessment of our financial position.

Risks Related to Our Operations

We plan to continue to create new products, expand 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 and acquire new products, expand our existing customer base and pilot new educational programs, we expect to face challenges distinct from those we currently encounter, including:

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

High-quality teachers are critical to the success of our learning systems. 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. As a result, our brand, business and operating results may be adversely affected.

High-quality teachers are critical to maintaining the value of our learning systems and assisting students with their daily lessons. In addition, teachers in the public schools we manage or who provide instruction in connection with the online programs we offer to school districts, must be state certified (with limited exceptions or temporary waiver provisions in various states), and we must implement effective internal controls in each jurisdiction to ensure valid teacher certifications, as well as the proper matching of certifications with student grade levels and subjects to be taught. In addition, teachers in the public schools we manage or who provide instruction in connection with 32 Table of Contentsthe online programs we offer to school districts, must be state certified (with limited exceptions or temporary waiver provisions in various states), and we must implement effective internal controls in each jurisdiction to ensure valid teacher certifications, as well as the proper matching of certifications with student grade levels and subjects to be taught. Teachers must also possess strong interpersonal communications skills to be able to effectively instruct students in a virtual school setting, and the technical skills to use our technology-based learning systems. There is a limited pool of teachers with these specialized attributes and the public schools and school districts we serve must provide competitive benefits packages to attract and retain such qualified teachers.

The teachers in many public schools we serve are not our employees and the ultimate authority relating to those teachers resides with an independent not-for-profit governing body, which oversees the schools. However, under many of our service and product agreements with virtual and blended public schools, we have responsibility to recruit, train and

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manage these teachers. The teacher recruitment and student assignment procedures and processes for our school-as-a-service offerings must also comply with individual state certification and reporting requirements. We must also provide continuous training to virtual and blended public school teachers so they can stay abreast of changes in student needs, academic standards and other key trends necessary to teach online effectively, including measures of effectiveness. We may not be able to recruit, train and retain enough qualified teachers to keep pace with school demand while maintaining consistent teaching quality in the various public schools we serve. Shortages of qualified teachers, failures to ensure proper teacher certifications and course assignments in each state, or decreases in the quality of our instruction, whether actual or perceived, could have an adverse effect on our business.

School teachers are subject to union organizing campaigns, and if the teachers employed by us or at the public schools we serve join a union, collective bargaining agreements negotiated with union representatives could result in higher operating expenses and the loss of management flexibility and innovation for which charter schools were created.

If the teachers at any one of the public schools we serve were to unionize, as is the case in California, the employer would become subject to a collective bargaining agreement with union representatives. A collective bargaining agreement could impact teacher salaries, benefits, work rules, teacher tenure and provide for restrictions on the teaching work-day and the time devoted to online instruction delivery or communications with students, and place limitations on the flexibility to reassign or remove teachers for inadequate performance. This could result in higher school-related expenses and could impede the sustainability of, or growth in, enrollment at the school due to the loss of management flexibility and innovation. The outcome could result in higher costs to us in providing educational support and curriculum services to the school, which may adversely affect our operating margins, overall revenues and academic performance results.

We rely on third-party service providers to host some of our solutions and any interruptions or delays in services from these third parties could impair the delivery of our products and harm our business.

We currently outsource some of our hosting services to third parties. We do not control the operation of any third-party facilities. These facilities are vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures and similar events. They are also subject to break-ins, computer viruses, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism and other misconduct. The occurrence of any of these disasters or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions in our service. Furthermore, the availability of our proprietary and third-party LMSs could be interrupted by a number of additional factors, including our customers’ inability to access the Internet, the failure of our network or software systems due to human or other error, security breaches or the ability of the infrastructure to handle spikes in customer usage. Interruptions in our service may reduce our revenue, cause us to issue credits or pay penalties, cause customers to terminate their subscriptions and adversely affect our renewal rates and our ability to attract new customers. Our business will also be harmed if our customers and potential customers believe our service is unreliable.

We operate a complex Company-wide ERP system, and if it were to experience significant operating problems, it could adversely affect our business and results of operations.We operate a complex Company-wide enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system, and if it were to experience significant operating problems, it could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We operate a complex Company-wide, Oracle-hosted, integrated ERP system to handle various business, operating and financial processes, which handles a variety of important functions, such as order entry, invoicing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, financial consolidation and internal and external financial and management reporting matters. If the ERP system experiences significant problems, it could result in operational issues including delayed billing and accounting errors and other operational issues, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. System delays or malfunctioning could also disrupt our ability to timely and accurately process and report results of our operations, financial position and cash flows, which could impact our ability to timely complete important business processes. System delays or malfunctioning could also disrupt our ability to timely and accurately process and report results of our 33 Table of Contentsoperations, financial position and cash flows, which could impact our ability to timely complete important business processes.

The continued development of our product and service brands is important to our business. If we are not able to maintain and enhance these brands, our business and operating results may suffer.

Enhancing brand awareness is critical to attracting and retaining students, and for serving additional virtual and blended public schools, school districts and online private schools, and we intend to spend significant resources to accomplish that objective. These efforts include sales and marketing directed to targeted locations, as well as the national marketplace, discrete student populations, the educational community at large, key policy groups, image-makers and the media. These efforts include sales and marketing directed to targeted locations as well as the national marketplace, discrete student populations, the educational community at large, key policy groups, image-makers and the media. As we continue to seek to increase enrollments and extend our geographic reach and product and service offerings, maintaining quality and consistency across all our services and products may become more difficult to achieve, and any

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significant and well-publicized failure to maintain this quality and consistency will have a detrimental effect on our brands. We cannot provide assurances that our new sales and marketing efforts will be successful in further promoting our brands 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 patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, domain names and other intellectual property rights are important assets. For example, we have been granted three U.S. patents related to our provision of virtual schooling, including the system components for creating and administering assessment tests and our lesson progress tracker, and two U.S. patents related to foreign language instruction. Additionally, we are the copyright owner of courses in our proprietary curriculum.

Various events outside of our control pose a threat to our intellectual property rights. For instance, 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. If we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property through patents, trademarks and copyrights, license agreements, employment agreements, confidentiality agreements, nondisclosure agreements or similar agreements, our intellectual property rights may be misappropriated by others, invalidated or challenged, and our competitors could duplicate our technology or may otherwise limit any competitive technology advantage we may have. 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.

It is possible that we may not be able to sufficiently protect our 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. Further, there is always the possibility that the scope of the protection gained will be insufficient or that an issued patent be deemed invalid or unenforceable.

We also seek to maintain certain intellectual property as trade secrets. This secrecy could be compromised by outside parties, whether through breach of our network security or otherwise, or by our employees or former 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.

Lawsuits against us alleging infringement of the intellectual property rights of others and such actions would be costly to defend, could require us to pay damages or royalty payments and could limit our ability or increase our costs to use certain technologies in the future.

Companies in the Internet, software, 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. Regardless of the merits, intellectual property claims are time-consuming and expensive to litigate or settle. For example, a non-practicing entity sued us alleging that our proprietary learning systems infringed three of its patents although its lawsuit was ultimately dismissed on the merits in 2014. In addition, to the extent claims against us are successful, we may have to pay substantial monetary damages or discontinue certain products, services or practices that are found to be in violation of another party’s rights. For example, a non-practicing entity sued us alleging that our proprietary learning 34 Table of Contentssystems infringed three of its patents although its lawsuit was ultimately dismissed on the merits in 2014. In addition, to the extent claims against us are successful, we may have to pay substantial monetary damages or discontinue certain products, services or practices that are found to be in violation of another party’s rights. We may also 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 and our

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insurance may not cover the expenses of litigation or settlement amounts. 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.

We operate in markets that are dependent on Information Technology (IT) systems and technological change. Failure to maintain and support customer-facing services, systems, and platforms, including addressing quality issues and execution on time of new products and enhancements, could negatively impact our revenues and reputation. Failure to maintain and support customer facing services, systems, and platforms, including addressing quality issues and execution on time of new products and enhancements, could negatively impact our revenues and reputation.

We use complex IT systems (as defined below) and products to support our business activities, including customer-facing systems, back-office processing and infrastructure.We use complex IT systems and products to support our business activities, including customer-facing systems, back-office processing and infrastructure. We face several technological risks associated with online product service delivery, information technology security (including virus and cyber-attacks, ransomware, as well as software related bugs, misconfigurations or other vulnerabilities), e-commerce and enterprise resource planning system implementations and upgrades. From time to time, we have experienced verifiable attacks on our system by unauthorized parties, and our plans and procedures to reduce such risks may not be successful. From time to time we have experienced verifiable attacks on our system by unauthorized parties, and our plans and procedures to reduce such risks may not be successful. Thus, our business could be adversely affected if our systems and infrastructure experience a significant failure or interruption in the event of future attacks on our system by unauthorized parties. Moreover, any use or integration of generative or other AI in our, or any third party’s, operations, products or services will pose new and/or unknown cybersecurity risks and challenges.

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The failure to prevent a cybersecurity incident affecting our systems, including, but not limited to, disruption of services, could harm our reputation, decrease demand for our services and products, expose us to liability, penalties, and remedial costs, or otherwise adversely affect our financial performance.

In order to provide our services and solutions, we depend on various computer systems, hardware, software, infrastructure, online sites and connected networks (hereinafter, "IT Systems"), including those of third parties.In order to provide our services and solutions, we depend on various hardware, software, infrastructure, online sites and connected networks (hereinafter, "IT Systems"), including those of third parties. In addition, as part of our business, we collect, use, process, transmit, host and store information, including personal data related to employees, customers, students, and parents, as well as proprietary business data and other sensitive information (collectively, "Confidential Information"). In addition, as part of our business, we collect, use, process, transmit, host and store information, including personal data related to employees, customers, students, and parents, as well as proprietary business data and other sensitive information (collectively, "Confidential Information"). The confidentiality, integrity and availability of our IT Systems and Confidential Information is at risk of being compromised, whether through malicious activity (including social engineering/phishing, malware (including ransomware)) by internal or external actors (including through the use of AI), or through human or technological errors that result from negligence or software “bugs” or other vulnerabilities. The confidentiality, integrity and availability of our IT Systems and Confidential Information is at risk of being compromised, whether through malicious activity (including social engineering) by internal or external actors, or through human or technological errors that result from negligence or software “bugs” or other vulnerabilities. Although we dedicate personnel and resources toward protecting against cybersecurity risks and threats, our efforts to protect against cybersecurity risks and threats may not be successful. We, and certain of our vendors who process Confidential Information on our behalf, have experienced security attacks and incidents, and we expect such attacks and incidents to continue in the future. While to date no attacks or incidents have had a material impact on our operations or financial results, we cannot guarantee that material incidents will not occur in the future. Any perceived or actual unauthorized access to or disclosure of Confidential Information could harm our reputation, decrease demand for our services and products, expose us to liability, penalties, and remedial costs, or otherwise adversely affect our financial performance. If those funding levels or formulas are materially reduced or modified due to economic conditions or political opposition, or new restrictions are adopted or payments delayed, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected.

Cyberattacks are expected to accelerate on a global basis in both frequency and magnitude, and threat actors are increasingly sophisticated in using techniques that circumvent controls, evade detection, and remove forensic evidence, which means that we and critical third parties may be unable to anticipate, contain, investigate or recover from future attacks or incidents in a timely or effective manner.35 Table of ContentsCyberattacks are expected to accelerate on a global basis in both frequency and magnitude, and threat actors are increasingly sophisticated in using techniques that circumvent controls, evade detection, and remove forensic evidence, which means that we and critical third parties may be unable to anticipate, contain, investigate or recover from future attacks or incidents in a timely or effective manner. In addition, remote and hybrid working arrangements that started during the COVID-19 pandemic may continue in the future, which presents additional opportunities for threat actors to engage in social engineering (for example, phishing) and to exploit vulnerabilities present in many non-corporate networks. In addition, remote and hybrid working arrangements that started during the COVID-19 pandemic may continue in the future, which presents additional opportunities for threat actors to engage in social engineering (for example, phishing) and to exploit vulnerabilities present in many non-corporate networks. Furthermore, we may acquire companies or enter into IT systems integrations with companies that have cybersecurity vulnerabilities or unsophisticated security measures, which would expose us to increased risks.

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Any security incident that results in Confidential Information, including personal information, being stolen, accessed, used or modified without authorization, or that otherwise disrupts or negatively impacts our operations or IT Systems, could harm our reputation, lead to customer attrition, and expose us to regulatory investigations, enforcement actions or litigation, including class actions. We may also be required to expend significant capital and other resources in response to a security incident, including notification under data privacy and breach notification laws and regulations, and incur expenses related to investigating and containing the incident, restoring lost or corrupted data, and remediating our IT Systems. We may also be required to expend significant capital and other resources in response to a security incident, including notification under data privacy laws and regulations, and incur expenses related to investigating and containing the incident, restoring lost or corrupted data, and remediating our IT Systems. Monetary damages, regulatory fines or penalties and other costs or losses, as well as injunctive remedies that

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require changes to our business model or practices, could be significant and may exceed insurance policy limits or may not be covered by our insurance at all. In addition, a security incident could require that we expend substantial additional resources related to the security of our IT Systems, diverting resources from other projects and disrupting our businesses. In addition, a security incident could require that we expend substantial additional resources related to the security of our IT Systems, diverting resources from other projects and disrupting our businesses.

Furthermore, there can be no assurance that our cybersecurity risk management program and processes, including our policies, controls, or procedures, will be fully implemented, complied with or effective in protecting our IT Systems and Confidential Information.

We rely on the Internet to enroll students and to deliver our products and services and to market ourselves and schools that contract with us, all of 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, state and other jurisdictional laws that could have an impact on our business include the following:

In addition, the laws applicable to the Internet continue to develop.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 or amended 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 and indemnification of schools we operate for liabilities resulting from a school’s failure to comply with such laws and regulations.

Compliance with ever-evolving federal, state, and foreign laws and other requirements relating to the handling of information about individuals necessitates significant expenditure and resources, and any failure by us or our vendors to comply may result in significant liability, negative publicity, and/or an erosion of trust, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We and our vendors are subject to a variety of federal, state and foreign data privacy laws, rules, regulations, industry standards and other requirements, including those that apply generally to the handling of personal information, and these requirements, and their application, interpretation and amendment, are constantly evolving. It is possible that the requirements under new or existing laws, regulations, and other requirements, or amendments to or changes in interpretations of existing laws, regulations and other requirements, may require us to incur significant costs, implement new processes, or change our handling of information and business operations, which could ultimately hinder our ability to grow our business.

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Even though we believe we and our vendors are generally in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations relating to privacy and data security, these laws are in some cases relatively new and the interpretation and application of these laws are uncertain. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with data privacy laws, rules, regulations, industry standards and other requirements could result in proceedings or actions against us by individuals, consumer rights groups, government agencies, or others. We could incur significant costs with such proceedings or actions against, significant negative publicity and an erosion of trust. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

We utilize a single logistics vendor for the management, receiving, assembly and shipping of all of our learning kits and printed educational materials. In addition, we utilize the same vendor at a second location for the reclamation and redeployment of our student computers. This partnership depends upon execution on the part of both us and the vendor. Any material failure to execute properly for any reason, including damage or disruption to any 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 learning kits and printed materials is located in one warehouse facility, which is operated by a third-party logistics vendor that 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 a material number of such shipments are incomplete or contain assembly errors, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, we provide computers for a substantial number of our students. Execution or merger integration failures which interfere with the reclamation or redeployment of computers may result in additional costs. Furthermore, a natural disaster, fire, earthquake, power interruption, work stoppage or other unanticipated catastrophic event, especially during the period from April through June when we are awaiting receipt of 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. Furthermore, a natural disaster, fire, power interruption, work stoppage or other unanticipated catastrophic event, especially during the period from April through June when we are awaiting receipt of 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 items 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 operation of AWS or Azure could cause a loss of data and disrupt our ability to manage our technological infrastructure.

We have migrated the applications that form the basis of our products to AWS and Microsoft Azure. Amazon and Microsoft are global leaders in the cloud services industry and provide world class data centers and capabilities. Amazon and Microsoft are global leaders in the cloud services industry and provide world class data centers and capabilities. However, our reliance on these vendors exposes us to risks outside of our control.

Additionally, we do not control the operation of these cloud facilities and must rely on AWS and Azure to provide the physical security, facilities management and communications infrastructure services related to our cloud environment. If AWS or Azure encounter financial difficulty, such as bankruptcy or other events beyond our control, that causes them to fail to secure adequately and maintain its hosting facilities or provide the required data communications capacity, students of the schools we serve may experience interruptions in our service or the loss or theft of important customer data. If AWS or Azure encounter 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 schools we serve may experience interruptions in our service or the loss or theft of important customer data.

Scale and 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 schools we serve increases and our student base grows, the traffic on our transaction processing systems and network hardware and software will rise. In our capacity planning processes, 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 or peak 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.

Our efforts to expand capacity may not produce the operational and financial results for which those investments were intended.37 Table of ContentsOur efforts to expand capacity may not produce the operational and financial results for which those investments were intended.

As we have grown to serve more schools, students and families in an increasing number of states and countries, we have invested in infrastructure systems and technology to keep pace such as new communication systems, enterprise hardware and software systems. In the absence of compatible business processes, adequate employee training, integration

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with other dependent systems, and sufficient staffing, this expanded capacity alone may not result in improved performance or outcomes.

We may be unable to keep pace with changes in our industry and advancements in technology as our business and market strategy evolves, including AI.

As changes in our industry occur or macroeconomic conditions fluctuate, including due to changing interest rates, rising inflation, the government closures of various banks and liquidity concerns at other financial institutions, geopolitical instability, AI and machine learning, pandemics and the potential for local and/or global economic recession, we may need to adjust our business strategies or find it necessary to restructure our operations or businesses, which could lead to changes in our cost structure, the need to write down the value of assets, or impact our profitability.As changes in our industry occur or macroeconomic conditions fluctuate, including due to changing interest rates, rising inflation, the government closures of various banks and liquidity concerns at other financial institutions, geopolitical instability, artificial intelligence and machine learning, pandemics and the potential for local and/or global economic recession, we may need to adjust our business strategies or find it necessary to restructure our operations or businesses, which could lead to changes in our cost structure, the need to write down the value of assets, or impact our profitability. We also make investments in existing or new businesses, including investments in technology and expansion of our business lines. These investments may have short-term returns that are negative or less than expected and the ultimate business prospects of the business may be uncertain.

As our business and market strategy evolves, we also will need to respond to technological advances and emerging industry standards in a cost-effective and timely manner in order to remain competitive, such as the ubiquitous use of tablets for public school applications, AI and machine learning, adaptive learning technologies, and web accessibility standards. 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.

While working to capture the significant benefits of AI, we recognize that the technology is new and developing. Our introduction and use of AI may present business, compliance, and reputational challenges that could lead to operational or reputational damage, competitive harm, legal and regulatory risk, and additional costs, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We use AI technologies in our platform and offerings, and we are making investments in expanding the use of AI throughout our business. This new and emerging technology, which is in its early stages of commercial use, presents a number of inherent risks. For example AI technologies can create accuracy issues, unintended biases, and discriminatory outcomes and create other perceived or actual technical, legal, compliance, privacy, security, and ethical risks which could slow our partners' and customers' adoption of our products and services that use AI. While AI-powered applications may help provide more tailored or personalized learner experiences, if the content, analyses, or recommendations that AI applications assist in producing on our platform are, or are perceived to be, deficient, inaccurate, or biased or non-compliant with the law, our reputation, competitive position, and business may be materially and adversely affected. Further, the use of AI technology is subject to ongoing debate in the education industry, including with respect to issues such as plagiarism, cheating, academic integrity, and the scope of appropriate or permissible use of generative AI in the context of both learning and teaching. Furthermore, privacy concerns arise when sensitive student data is used to train generative models, potentially exposing personal information to unauthorized access or misuse. The teacher recruitment and student assignment procedures and processes for our school-as-a-service offerings must also comply with individual state certification and reporting requirements. Further, our competitors or other third parties may incorporate AI into their products more quickly or more successfully than us, which could impair our ability to compete effectively.

In addition, litigation or government regulation related to the use of AI (including the use of generative AI) may also adversely impact our ability to develop and offer products that use AI, as well as increase the cost and complexity of doing so. In the United States, certain states have introduced and passed legislation mandating, among other requirements, transparency in AI algorithms and their decision-making processes to prevent discriminatory practices. Notably, the Illinois Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) sets specific guidelines for protecting student data used by educational technology companies. In addition, developing, testing and deploying AI in our platform, offerings and services involves significant technical complexity and requires specialized expertise. Any disruption or failure in our AI systems or infrastructure could result in delays or errors in our operations, which could harm our business and financial results. Further, market demand and acceptance of AI technologies are uncertain, and we may be unsuccessful in our efforts related to deploying AI in our business.

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We may be unable to attract and retain key executives and skilled employees, and because our employees are located throughout the United States, we may incur additional compliance and litigation costs that could adversely impact our business, financial condition and our results of operations.

Our success depends in large part on continued employment of senior management and key personnel who can effectively operate our business, which is necessary in the highly regulated public education sector involving a publicly traded for-profit company. This complexity requires us to attract and retain experienced executive management and employees with specialized skills and knowledge across many disciplines. 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 condition 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, ensure full compliance with federal and state regulations, launch new product offerings, and would have an adverse effect on our business and financial results.

We are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act and other state and federal employment laws. These laws govern such matters as minimum wage, overtime, leave, and other working conditions that can increase our labor costs or subject us to liabilities to our employees. In addition, many state and local jurisdictions are adopting their own laws, such as paid sick leave, to address conditions of employment not covered by federal law and/or to provide additional rights and benefits to employees. These developments and disparate laws could increase our costs of doing business, lead to litigation, or have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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. If adequate funds are not available or are not available on acceptable terms, our ability to expand, develop 38 Table of Contentsor enhance services or products, or respond to competitive pressures will be limited. In addition, economic conditions, including current and future business disruptions and debt and equity market volatility caused by changing interest rates, rising inflation, the government closures of various banks and liquidity concerns at other financial institutions, geopolitical instability, possible pandemics and the potential for local and/or global economic recession may impact our ability to raise funds on acceptable terms.

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Moreover, the Company maintains the majority of its cash and cash equivalents in accounts with major U.S. and multi-national financial institutions, and our deposits at certain of these institutions exceed insured limits. Market conditions can impact the viability of these institutions. Market conditions can impact the viability of these institutions. In the event of failure of any of the financial institutions where we maintain our cash and cash equivalents, there can be no assurance that we would be able to access uninsured funds in a timely manner or at all. In the event of failure of any of the financial institutions where we maintain our cash and cash equivalents, there can be no assurance that we would be able to access uninsured funds in a timely manner or at all. Any inability to access or delay in accessing these funds could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any inability to access or delay in accessing these funds could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

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ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY

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Cybersecurity Governance

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The Committee reports to the full Board regarding its activities, including those related to cybersecurity. The full Board also receives briefings from management on our cyber risk management program.