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SALT LAKE CITY — The State Charter School Board voted unanimously Monday to close Capstone Classical Academy, a public charter school in Weber County, effective at the end of the academic year.
The board’s vote came after a three hour-plus hearing on the Pleasant View school’s financial condition and enrollment.
Capstone Classical Academy, which serves grades 6-12, opened the 2018-19 academic year with a focus on classical arts and sciences.
In October, the Utah State Charter School Board proposed termination of the academy. At the time, board staff cautioned the school could be $450,000 in the red by the end of the school year. The school requested a hearing to dispute the recommendation of closure.
The board did not not veer from its original position, apparently persuaded that the school’s financial condition could not be fixed long term simply by fundraising.
According to the school’s audited financial statements for FY2019 presented Monday, Capstone Classical Academy spent $1.57 for every dollar it received.
State officials recommend that charter schools have 30 days of unrestricted cash on hand. Capstone Classical Academy had three days’ worth, according to board documents.
According to the statements, the charter school had $81,247 in cash to pay $492,616 in bills.
Testimony offered during the hearing on the school’s charter indicated the school was attempting to renegotiate its rent with its landlord and has an aggressive fundraising campaign underway, which included a $100,000 matching grant and academy students themselves raising $20,000 by selling popcorn.
Capstone Classical Academy has received more than $200,000 from one donor alone.
Recently, it has developed a parent-led marketing strategy, which relies on social media, open houses and academy families helping to recruit new students.
Several State Charter School Board members complimented the school’s academic program and early success in extracurricular activities such as debate, archery and science competitions, but said its financial footing was precarious.
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The State Charter School Board has placed St. George Academy on probation for up to one year and approved its plan intended to address the board’s concerns over the public charter school’s enrollment and financial viability.“If you look at the numbers, they’re not pretty and they’re not promising, and that’s a really hard place to be,” said board Vice Chairwoman DeLaina Tonks.
“The only concern we’ve had about this school is financial,” she said.
The school’s enrollment has not met projections, either. In Utah, enrollment drives state funding formulas.
Capstone Classical Academy’ original charter envisioned a maximum of 360 students. According to documents presented during Monday’s hearing, its enrollment was 160 students in October 2018.
Parents and school officials said enrollment has begun to increase as the school has implemented its marketing strategy.
Typically, a charter high school’s enrollment grows the first three years and plateaus by year four, according to statistics presented by State Charter School Board Executive Director Jennifer Lambert.
Rob Fontenot, chairman of Capstone Classical Academy’s board of directors, said the school will explore its options.
“We’re clearly disappointed. This is isn’t the direction that we wanted the State Charter School Board to take. We felt like we had a strong argument, not only for this year but for the long term. We have a lot of partners in this deal that are helping us get to the point we can get our enrollment up so we can be financially viable,” he said.
The school could appeal the decision to the Utah State Board of Education or petition the State Charter School Board to reconsider its actions, he said.
If you look at the numbers, they’re not pretty and they’re not promising, and that’s a really hard place to be. The only concern we’ve had about this school is financial.
–Board Vice Chairwoman DeLaina Tonks
“We’re going to be strategic about how we pursue those (options) to make sure that these kids legally have a choice, which they do, to be educated in the way they see fit,” Fontenot said.
Several of the school’s students attended Monday’s hearing. Some burst into tears after the board’s vote to close the school.
David Strait, who teaches music at Capstone Classical Academy, said he served on the recently concluded state charter school task force empaneled by the State School Board.
He addressed what he described as the “elephant in the room,” the impact of the shuttering of American International School of Utah, which resulted in lawsuits related to closure activities.
The school was closed this spring after lingering questions about its financial viability and concerns over spending state and federal special education funds without contemporaneous documentation.
“In some large part it’s really damaged trust between charter schools and overseeing bodies like the (State Charter School Board). We really need to be on the same side,” he said.
He urged the board members to spend a day or two at the school, and their focus would shift from finding reasons to shutter the school to “seeing all the reasons it has to stay open.”
