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Board reviews Cornerstone Classical Academy application amid transportation and ESE concerns
Summary
The board reviewed a charter application for Cornerstone Classical Academy proposing an August 2027 opening and enrollment around 700; members raised concerns about transportation, food service and how students with IEPs would be served.
Staff summarized the Cornerstone Classical Academy charter application, noting the applicant proposes opening in August 2027 with phased construction and first-year enrollment projections of a little over 700 students. "The Cornerstone Classical Academy proposed opening of August '27...they are starting with K–7 and will add a grade each year," staff said.
Board members asked whether charters participating in state testing would affect district accountability; staff clarified charter schools take state assessments and receive their own school grades that do not count against the district. "They take the state assessment...but their scores don't count for the district," a staff member said.
The board focused on access for students with disabilities and operational services. Members asked whether the application considers ESE populations, transportation and food services. Staff said the application does not exclude applicants but that student services would be handled by the IEP team once students enroll, and that the charter indicated it does not participate in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program. "They don't participate in the federal free and reduced lunch process," a board member noted.
Staff identified the proposed site as the Garden District at Wildlight off Chester Road on a 15-acre site and said it is about a mile from the district's first planned school site in the same development. Board members asked staff to collect information on the charter's historical ESE population and suggested staff will compile questions and send board comments to the state's charter oversight office by the board comment deadline (Thursday the 11th). "If you give it to me by noon, I'll have time to get it sent into the proper people at the state that oversee the Charter School application process," a board member said.
Next steps: staff will collect board comments and submit them before the state deadline and will bring additional detail to the board, including transportation and ESE-related questions.
