On August 16, the Idaho Public Charter School Commission conditionally approved the Brabeion Academy charter school for a three-year term under a new law passed last year (H422). This approval is the first since the new law came into effect. The law’s vague language encourages “the use of different and innovative teaching methods.”
The details of this charter school (grades K-8) are indeed “different":
- One teacher per 60 students (assisted by two “aides”); an estimated total of 475 students.
- School attendance required only every other day based on the notion that many young students might be better off staying home two or three days per week.
- Occasional gender segregation based on the supposition that girls learn differently than boys.
- Athletics focus.
- Teach the Hillsdale College 1776 curriculum (Hillsdale is a private conservative Christian school based in Michigan).
- Teach a social studies curriculum provided by PragerU (PragerU is not a university and has no education credentials. It was created by a talk show host, Dennis Prager, who also has no education credentials.)
The founder of this proposed charter school is Branden Durst, a controversial former politician who describes himself on X (formerly Twitter) as: “I'm a Christian populist. That means I support policies that advance Biblical principles and support the little guy over the government and corporations. It means I distrust the government and corporations. It means I believe the Church is the solution to most societal needs.”
Brabeion Academy was presented as a secular school, but Durst is reported to have said it could later morph into a Christian Charter School and there was nothing to prevent him from doing so. He also described Brabeion as a “Christian public charter school” in a social media post. It is not clear if he informed the Charter School of his intent to turn Brabeion into a religious charter school.
The Commission raised several serious concerns:
- A building has not been secured (a vacant department store in Nampa is being considered).
- There is no specific transportation plan.
- No donations have been secured to cover start-up costs.
- The student-teacher ratio is extremely high, especially when it comes to teaching reading and mathematics in grades K-3.
- There is no research, beyond anecdotes, that demonstrate if this unique hybrid approach to education would actually be effective.
- The plan to segregate students by gender may violate federal guidelines.
- The projected first-year enrollment of 475 students appeared to be unrealistic.
Despite these concerns, the Commission decided to give Brabeion Academy a three-year authorization if it met five conditions:
- Sign a facility lease agreement by March 1, 2026.
- Demonstrate a balanced year-one budget based on enrollment by June 1, 2026.
- Have all Memorandum(s) of Understanding (MOU’s) required to operate the school signed by June 1, 2026.
- Show that all grants and contracts that are part of that year-one budget are signed or delivered by June 1, 2026.
- Prove sufficient transportation has been secured by June 1, 2026.
While some people may be concerned about the school’s academic approach, uncertain funding, and the colorful background of the applicant, the greater concern is why the Charter School Commission gave this proposal any form of positive approval in the first place – especially given the laundry list of concerns it raised.
Instead of saying, “Yes, you are granted a charter when you do the following . . .”, a more prudent decision would have been, “No, you are not granted a charter unless you first do the following . . .”
There's a big difference between telling prospective donors they can safely make an investment now that the charter has been approved, versus telling them they have to make an investment before knowing if the charter will be approved.
Of equal concern are questions about the role of the State Board of Education, which organizationally oversees the Charter School Commission. This is important because if a charter school fails, then traditional public schools (and thus taxpayers) are responsible for educating the charter school students when rescuing them from a failed “experiment.”
|
|
This is my second “Yellow Flag” newsletter. The first one discussed across-the-board cuts to the state’s budget. The next one will discuss Idaho’s DOGE task force.
