Charter News

Families looking for different learning environment enroll their students in the school’s first year Cedar Rapids Gazette- Grace King   CEDAR RAPIDS — Mandee Beardsley was looking for a different learning environment for her son Kyler when she learned about Cedar Rapids Prep, a new charter school in Cedar Rapids. Just a...

First charter school in the Quad-Cities opens in Davenport Quad City Times- Cesar Toscano   On an early Friday morning, students in green-shirted uniforms walked in lines guided by their teachers to the front court of Horizon Science Academy. What followed were cheers and applause as local, state leaders and school leaders...

Iowa Public Radio By Isabella Luu   Des Moines Prep is one of three new charter schools opening across the state this fall. The school is operated by the Omaha-based nonprofit, Opportunity Education. A new charter school opens Monday in Des Moines' East Village neighborhood. It's one of the latest...

Forbes By Jeanne Allen and Katie Nelligan   Amid the surge of headlines about school choice expansion — from education savings accounts in Texas and Wyoming to voucher reforms in Idaho — a quieter, equally powerful story has unfolded: the resurgence of charter school growth and the laws enabling it. In just the...

Quad City Times Mary McHugh Two hundred students will start embracing STEM in their classrooms when they enter Horizon Science Academy Davenport this fall — as the first cohort. Prospective parents and students had the opportunity to get a peek at what to expect at the school’s very first open house...

Cedar Rapids Prep is off to a great start with over 200 students enrolled before the summer starts.

A building at 106 E. Locust St. in Des Moines is being remodeled so that it can be used for a high school. Des Moines Prep, a new charter high school, is expected to open on the site in August. The school will be operated by Omaha-based Opportunity Education, founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist Joe Ricketts.

Cedar Rapids Gazette Elijah Decious   CEDAR RAPIDS — In January 2024, the Iowa State Board of Education approved applications for three new charter schools in Cedar Rapids. One, Empowering Excellence, has already opened. CIVICA, a company based in Florida with charter schools in three other states, has proposed a K-5th grade elementary...

KMA Land Ethan Hewett (Crescent) -- Families in and around Crescent will once again have a local option for elementary school students. The Red Barn Schoolhouse received approval from the Iowa State Board of Education in January for its charter elementary school application before officially receiving its five-year charter school...

Quad Cities Times January 27, 2025- Olivia Allen Three charter schools will be open in Davenport by fall 2026, another step in Iowa's school choice movement. The schools — Horizon Science Academy, Davenport Prep and Great Oaks High School and Career Center — are set to serve close to 600 local students in their...