Three Idaho charter schools received advance state payments totaling about $3.6 million last month, including $1.3 million for Brabeion Academy before opening its doors.

The recipients also included Kootenai Classical Academy and Payette River Regional Technical Charter, which received advance payments under the same program.

Brabeion, a sports-focused charter, was the only new charter school among the seven scheduled to open this fall to receive an advance payment.

The Idaho State Department of Education can make advance payments of 25% of a school’s estimated annual apportionment in the school’s first year of operation, according to state law. 

The payments are meant to help with start-up costs or payroll obligations.

Each year after, schools can get an early payment if the school serves more grades than the previous year or has at least 10% more classes than the previous year.

Schools that are already operational may need additional documentation to establish the need for the advance payment. The early funds can cover a variety of things, from hiring teachers to purchasing curriculum.

Brabeion

Brabeion (BRUH-bye-on) is set to open Aug. 31, a week after the school’s previous open date as the Nampa campus remains under construction. The school is the first to be approved under Idaho’s 2024 innovation charter law.

Billed as Idaho’s first school of sport by founder and former state legislator Branden Durst, the charter is at capacity with 700 students enrolled in grades K-8. About 200 students are on a waitlist, Durst said.

Durst said applying for the advance payment was “pretty easy” and will allow the school to pay salaries and purchase curriculum before students arrive.

“As a first-year charter school, it’s hard for us to be able to handle a lot of the costs associated with startup,” Durst told EdNews.

He noted the payment became less critical after the charter received $1.2 million in federal Charter Support Program funds administered by Bluum.

Still, Durst said the $1.4 million in state funds expected to hit the school’s bank account Monday will help the opening later this month go more smoothly.

“It’s going to be really helpful for us,” he said.

Payette River Regional Technical Academy

This Emmett-based charter school estimates a 61% increase in funding units this coming school year.

That’s because the technical academy is now offering full-time enrollment, said Superintendent Patrick Goff.

The school had offered career technical education pathways largely to students enrolled at Emmett High School, with some students commuting from nearby communities.

Last year, Goff ran a pilot program adding math, science, history and English classes so freshmen could attend the school full time.

“This has always been kind of a vision of mine,” Goff said.

The core classes offered at the technical school are a bit different than those at a traditional high school. In English class, a compare-and-contrast paper might be focused on the differences between a V8 and a V6 engine for a student in the automotive program, Goff said.

The goal is to tie students’ chosen career pathway to their core class work.

About 125 students finished the school year at the school full time, but the expansion was tough financially.

“It got really thin sliding into February, so it was really spooky,” Goff said.

The school received over $966,000 this month in early funds.

The advance payment will help as about 75 freshmen join the 100 sophomores continuing full time at Payette River.

The school also added more online courses, which contributed to the predicted increased enrollment, Goff said.

Kootenai Classical Academy

Since opening four years ago, students have flocked to Kootenai Classical in Post Falls.

The school uses the Hillsdale curriculum, from a conservative Christian college of the same name. Hillsdale schools are expanding rapidly in Idaho, with strong demand statewide.

This month the school received $1.3 million in early state funds. The school estimated a 15.6% increase in funding units from the previous year.

Conrad Woodall, Director of Operations, said the school has about 600 students on a waitlist, with grades K-11 full. The school will offer twelfth grade for the first time next year.

But Woodall could not provide specifics of how the early payment will help the school. Woodall manages facilities and security for the school, which hired a new headmaster this summer after founding headmaster Ed Kaitz left this spring.

Board treasurer Renee Burgess did not immediately respond to questions from EdNews.