IDEA Public Schools recently announced its expansion to the Permian Basin Area. IDEA will open schools in Midland starting in 2020 and Odessa in 2021. Eventually, IDEA will serve roughly 10,000 students across 14 schools on 7 campuses. In response to community needs and bold leadership from both Midland ISD and the Texas Education Agency, IDEA is committed to partnering with Midland ISD to operate exceptional schools within the district, as well as traditional independent charter schools.

“We plan to do something in the Permian Basin that IDEA hasn’t really done before—several of our schools will be turning around existing schools that are chronic under performers and will be creating new proof points of what all children are capable of,” said Bethany Solis, Executive Director of IDEA Permian Basin.

Bethany Solis first joined the IDEA Team & Family in 2005 as a second-grade teacher at IDEA Donna. She was a founding academy Principal for IDEA Mission, and in 2012, become the first Director of Leader Development to launch IDEA’s Principal in Residence Program.  She and her team have led the Principal in Residence program and other organization-wide leader development experiences, from teacher leadership to mentor principalship.

IDEA has a clear track record of success serving student populations very similar to the students in the Permian Basin. For 13 consecutive years, 100 percent of IDEA Public Schools’ graduates have been accepted to college and nearly all have matriculated to college. Many are the first in their family to go to college, and IDEA alumni graduate college at five times the national average. Most recently, IDEA’s Class of 2019 was accepted to more than 362 colleges and universities across the nation. Among the nearly 1,185 students who will matriculate to college this fall, more than 752 of those students were the first members of their family to attend college.

Click here to sign up for more information on IDEA Permian Basin.