Seek to Open in School Year 2021-22
9 Charter District Semi-Finalists Announced
Of the 28 nonprofit entities that submitted applications by the Jan. 21, 2020, deadline in the hopes of being approved to open new charter districts in Texas in School Year 2021-22, nine remain under consideration because they scored high enough by non-TEA “external” reviewers and did not submit incomplete applications.
They are, with (according to info on their applications) their general proposed service area or headquarters city:
- Royal Public Schools, San Antonio. (application)
Note: Although the education commissioner approved a Royal Public Schools application last year to open a charter with campuses in Austin and Houston, the State Board of Education vetoed it by an 8-7 vote.Just like last year, the Royal Schools application was submitted by
Soner Tarim, who co-founded (and was the first CEO of) the Harmony charter network in Texas.Tarim reportedly left the Harmony network in 2017.
- Brilliante Academy, McAllen. (application)
- CLEAR Public Charter School, Hays County. (application)
- Curie Academy, Austin. (application)
- Doral Academy of Texas, Hays County. (application)
- Heritage Classical Academy, Houston. (application)
- Learn4Life-Austin, Austin. (application)
- Prelude Preparatory Charter School, San Antonio. (application)
- Rocketship Public Schools, Fort Worth. (application)
The nine semifinalists will undergo interviews by TEA staff and SBOE members during publicly live-streamed meetings the week of July 27.
The education commissioner is tentatively set to make his final picks for new charter districts by Aug. 17 to be presented to SBOE members at their September meeting.
The SBOE, by a majority vote, can veto any of the commissioner’s final picks for new charter districts.
Look for updates on the TEA's charter home page.