Good morning, CharterFolk.
Today we are delighted to share a Contributor Column from Lydia Hoffman, who is the CEO of the Colorado Schools Fund and is a member of the CharterFolk Board of Directors.
For quite a while now, we have shared content here at CharterFolk about growing momentum in Colorado and the West. It’s great to have such a respected voice adding to the chorus.
There’s Something Happening in Colorado
There’s something happening in Colorado.
Three years ago, it felt like the oxygen had left the room. The pandemic and a halt in new public charter openings cast a shadow over what was a thriving and growing ecosystem. For many folks who see hope in innovative school models, Colorado’s charter sector felt like yesterday’s news.
What a difference a few years makes. Today, momentum and energy have returned to Colorado. I’ve seen this rebirth as I’ve traveled across the state to better understand family and community needs and to see Colorado’s charter schools in action.
This summer, I launched the Colorado Schools Fund …
… which helps leaders open outstanding new public schools in places where communities are demanding them. I left a job I loved at the Charter School Growth Fund – where I worked alongside school leaders I revered – because of the need for quality schools in Colorado (we have 30-point proficiency gaps between our low-income students and their peers) and a hypothesis that the entrepreneurial energy and innovative spirit is still strong here, despite the fact that new charter openings for kids most in need of quality schools had slowed to a halt by fall 2023.
What I found in the past six months of learning and visiting communities across Colorado, including many of the 265 charter schools that exist in every corner of this state, has blown me away. There’s a lot of learning still ahead, but three things have stood out to me about Colorado’s charter sector:
First, Colorado is home to exemplary charter schools that truly match the diversity of needs and family demands across this state:
- In Colorado Springs, Colorado International Language Academy, a racially and socio-economically diverse language immersion school, offers Mandarin, Spanish, and German. Why German? Because the Springs is a military town, and many families who were stationed in Germany wanted their kids to keep up their German. They’re listening to their community.
- In Durango, at Mountain Middle School …
- … and Animas High School – both incredible, project-based learning schools — students spend significant time outside the schools’ walls, embedding learning within the mountain community where they live. At Animas, students participate in deep-learning interdisciplinary three-week experiences; for one experience, students sailed on Colorado reservoirs and learned about the politics of water in the Colorado River watershed.
- And on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, community leaders and parents created Kwiyagat Community Academy to ensure students have a strong grounding in Nuchu culture and language. The school represents a deep reclaiming of history and culture that is palpable in the town of Towaoc: I was deeply moved seeing community elders teach kindergarteners about the meaning and uses of native plants.
Second, our leadership talent and entrepreneurial energy are off the charts. Despite headwinds, leaders are persevering to open and lead schools that are responsive to families’ needs:
- Aaron Abeyta and Michele Trujillo lead the Justice and Heritage Academy, a microschool in Antonito, Colorado, focused on environmental, social, and food justice. Antonito, in the San Luis Valley, is home to the earliest non-Native settlers in Colorado who moved to the area when the land was the northernmost edge of Mexico under Spanish colonial rule prior to 1848. The school was born out of an environmental fight Aaron and Michele led to prevent nuclear waste from being transported through the town and a desire to reclaim the community’s history. Despite the local district denying their charter application, the Justice and Heritage Academy continues to operate as a cooperative program.
- Laurel Dumas, a longtime school leader in the small town of Fairplay, Colorado, will open the High Rockies Community School next fall. Students at the 20-30 student microschool will learn from interdisciplinary, real-world projects in the local community, with an emphasis on outdoor education; a history unit on mining, for example, will be taught on site at a nearby mine.
- Jenny Whitaker co-founded AXIS International Academy in Fort Collins in fall 2018 and is working to find the school a permanent home, which would enable them to serve more families. The vision for AXIS is to offer a world-class international school education as a tuition-free public school with a diverse student body. On a visit last spring, I saw a fifth grader sharing thoughts on a recent novel in fluent Mandarin; the student is now trilingual, as her first language was Spanish.
- In Denver, Nella Garcia Urban (DSST), Tricia Noyola (RMP), and Tomi Amos (KIPP Colorado) are at the helm of charter networks that together educate more than 13,000 students – including 24% of Denver’s secondary students. These women are “clock builders” – to borrow a term from Jim Collins – who are hyper-focused on kids’ experiences and outcomes and are building systems that are built to last. And with more than 300,000 Latino students enrolled in K-12 schools in Colorado, I’m proud that Tricia and Nella, two of the most incredible charter leaders nationally, who also happen to be Latina, have decided to call Colorado home.
Third, there is mission alignment across key partners around a new way forward:
- Working with communities is at the center of school founders’ thinking – truly. For too long, too many folks in our sector have pursued growth wherever, whenever. Our commitment is to listen carefully to what communities are asking for and to support leaders and schools launching with communities. Families should be leading the way.
- When the leaders of our schools reflect the students educated in those schools, our schools and networks are stronger. Colorado Schools Fund is supporting several Colorado leaders to participate in LEAL’s El Camino fellowship this year, and we are committed to a future vision where Colorado’s charter sector better reflects the diversity of the students it serves.
- We hold a high, unwavering bar for quality and excellence. One thing this means in practice is that at some point, we anticipate we will support the closure of a school we once supported. Our kids deserve only the best.
I feel it is our responsibility to put wind at the backs of incredible leaders and communities in Colorado, which is why we are working to knock down key barriers, like facilities. And we are thrilled that two other key initiatives launched in 2024 which give me hope for a future where all Colorado children will receive a quality public school education:
- The Colorado League of Charter Schools was awarded $68M in federal Charter School Program (CSP) funds to support growth and expansion, which translates to up to $2M per new school launched to support startup costs. As launching a school becomes more expensive, this funding is essential.
- Atlas Prep founder Zach McComsey has launched the Legacy Fellowship, a two-year paid fellowship to train charter school founders across a diversity of school models (visit startaschool.org to learn more). A BES alum, Zach carries on Linda Brown’s legacy of exceptionally high expectations, but wraps that vision together with a true community-rooted approach, fostering a more holistic way of thinking about schools.
Now, more than ever, we need entrepreneurial school leaders to lead the way forward and launch agile schools that are truly responsive to student and community needs. If that’s you, we are here to support you on that journey and help ensure you and your school community thrive.