Myth Busting: ACAF Is A Privately Run, Religiously Based Charter School

MYTH: ACAF Is A Privately Run, Religiously Based Charter School

FACT:  WRONG. Ascent Classical Academy Flatirons is a public charter school and not allowed to be affiliated with or promote a religion, in accordance with Colorado Revised Statutes 22-30.5-104(1) and its charter contract.  The school has already been awarded a $680,000 federal grant that also includes an explicit prohibition against religious instruction.  This accusation is merely an inflammatory claim that’s not grounded in truth and made by people unable to argue against the proven track record of classical charter schools in Colorado.

The Ascent Classical Academy Flatirons team has made clear assurances to the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) that the school meets all legal requirements to satisfy this claim, most recently in a response delivered to the BVSD on January 10, 2019 and available on the BVSD website.  Responses to questions 4(C), 5, 6, 7, and 10 from the BVSD Board of Education address this single topic thoroughly.

ACAF will not be privately run. It will be a public charter school, which is a non-profit, tuition-free, independently operated public school granted greater flexibility in curriculum, staffing, and operations.  Both GVCA and ACAD post all financial information on the Financial Transparency pages of their websites, as all public charter schools must do per Colorado state statutes.

Ascent Classical Academies (ACA) is a homegrown, local, non-profit, charter management organization (CMO) started by local parents, and is the education service provider for our local classical schools.
The school’s network governance structure was pioneered by Governor Jared Polis with his New America Schools, which have a governing board overseeing multiple schools and also assesses a fee for service, just like ACA schools.  The Colorado Department of Education also recommends the structure adopted by ACA.
The services agreement between the School and CMO is a performance-based agreement, approved annually, with independent legal counsel representing both the School and CMO. The structure of the agreement was developed using best practices from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the Colorado Charter School Institute (CSI), and the Colorado Department of Education (CDE).