Idaho charter schools received $6.8 million in grants from the Federal Charter School Program, announced Bluum, an Idaho non-profit that supports charter schools.

Four schools received the funds to help them provide 1,895 seats. The grants go to Idaho’s Building on Success for Future Excellence program led by Bluum.

The grants will only be issued if the United States Department of Education releases the funds, which is up in the air after federal grants were frozen then, after the court blocked the order, unfrozen by the Trump administration last week. 

The funds will go to four new schools:

• $2 million to Alturas Academy North in Rigby to create up to 648 seats.
• $2 million to Elevate Academy in Twin Falls to create up to 488 seats.
• $2 million to Valor Classical Academy in Kuna to create up to 654 seats.
• $800,000 to Hollister Charter School in Hollister to create up to 105 seats.

Alturas, Elevate and Valor are set to open in the fall of 2026. Alturas is the third school in the Idaho Falls-based network of schools. Elevate Academy will be the fifth school in the statewide network of career and technical schools that serve at-risk students. The Twin Falls location is authorized through the Twin Falls School District.

Valor Classical was authorized in December by the Idaho Public Charter Commission. It will be the third school in the American Classical Schools of Idaho network, a group of schools that use Hillsdale Curriculum, created by the conservative Christian college of the same name in Michigan.

Hollister Charter School plans to open in the fall of 2025 to serve grades K-6. The school is authorized by the Filer School District.

“These schools earned this grant support through a rigorous and competitive third-party review process,” Bluum CEO Terry Ryan wrote in a statement. “We look forward to supporting these schools as they open and grow to serve Idaho students and families. It is particularly exciting that two of these schools are authorized by their local public school districts.”

Idaho received nearly $25 million in funding from the federal charter school program over five years. At least 90% of those dollars will flow through to public charter schools subgrantees for school start-up, expansion and replication. At least 7% of the funds must be used for state-level technical assistance and program research and evaluation.

Editor’s note: Idaho Education News and Bluum both receive funding from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation.