Improving K-12 Education

Exploring the New Charter Frontier in Idaho

Since 2020, Idaho has seen an influx in its population, and these changes have precipitated a new movement in its education system. This community-grown and innovative charter movement has resulted in more than 17,000 new seats being created to meet the growth in population. Many schools also started in response to a community outcry of children’s needs not being met by school districts.  

The DK team, along with partners in Colorado’s education arena, traveled to Boise, Idaho, in mid-October to witness Idaho’s charter movement first hand. We saw five different schools in the Boise area: one independent school and four charter schools. Our time in Idaho resulted in many fruitful conversations and questions about what we learned. We saw many ways to interpret the idea of learning: 

  • One Stone: An independent school focused on student-led and directed learning
  • Novus Classical School: A charter built on training students to be responsible citizens
  • Sage Middleton: A charter focusing on the International Baccalaureate standards
  • Elevate Academy: A charter serving at-risk youth in learning career technical trades
  • Promise Academy: A charter integrating education with behavioral therapy and student safety

All of these schools came as a direct response to parents and community members looking for alternatives for their children’s education. The schools were each incubated by direct giving from philanthropy through JKAF and leadership/operational support from Bluum. Together, these two organizations were able to support, foster, and grow the community-driven needs in Idaho.   

Rewind 15-20 years, and we can see similarities and differences in the charter school movement in Colorado. There have been some community driven schools (example: Creststone Charter School) that began with a need in the community. Many other charters during this time were started out of the No Child Left Behind testing era, in response to incredibly low test scores across district run schools. These charter networks planted themselves in communities and have either grown, shrunk, or closed over the past decade as they have responded to the changing times and community needs. When taking a step back and looking at the charter landscape in Colorado as compared to Idaho, a few questions continue to circulate through my head:

  • How can the state of Colorado foster and grow community-driven, innovative schools inside and outside our traditional educational funding system (per pupil funding)?
  • How can we support new micro-schools that are commonly founded on a small school model in response to community needs?  In Idaho, Bluum typically supports these schools with leadership, facilities, and operations.   In Colorado, we have the League of Charter Schools and the Colorado Schools Fund both working on these issues.
  • What sustainable funding is available to respond to community needs for more innovation in education?   How can we innovate within the per-pupil spending allotted to public schools?
  • How can we as a state continue to foster multiple interpretations of how students learn both in metro areas and the rural-frontier landscape?

In my previous life as an educator and micro-school founder, I had a strong desire to change the way we look at learning.   It was in my own community that I started a Wildflower School, with a desire to provide another model for education.  If Colorado can find a way to support innovative, community driven schools, we may see the educational landscape slowly change to serve more children.   This is already happening with Wildflower Colorado’s Charter in both Aurora and Grand Junction along with other new micro-school charters like the High Rockies Community School.   These micro-schools are not educating the masses, but instead are redefining learning for students who aren’t being served well in our districts.   

At DK, we look forward to the partnerships and connections formed during our visit to Idaho as a bridge to solving some of the more systemic stop-gaps in education innovation.   We hope to think outside of the box for funding structures that foster a landscape for more community-centered design focused on student learning.   If you would like to be a part of this conversation, please reach out to info@dkfoundation.org to get connected to this work! 


Written By: Sarah Johnson

Sarah Johnson is an educational entrepreneur, novice farmer, and mother to two DPS children. She believes that education can be...

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