IDEA Public Schools Welcomes Nearly 36,000 Students throughout Texas on the First Day of School

TEXAS (August 14, 2017) – Today, IDEA Public Schools kicked off its 17th school year across Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, Austin, and San Antonio. Over 4,000 employees welcomed back 36,000 students for the first day of the 2017-2018 school year.

This year, IDEA Public Schools opened five new campuses: IDEA Rio Grande City and IDEA Tres Lagos in Rio Grande City and McAllen, and IDEA Brackenridge, IDEA Ewing Halsell, and IDEA Harvey E. Najim in San Antonio. Collectively, these schools will serve nearly 8,300 students when they serve students in grades Pre-K to 12 by 2024.

Over the last 17 years, IDEA has grown from a small school with 150 students to the fastest-growing network of tuition-free, Pre-K-12 public charter schools in the United States. From Pre-K – 12###sup/sup### grade, IDEA Public Schools is focused on sending 100% of students to college. For the last 11 years, 100% of IDEA graduates have been accepted to college.

Today, 2,600 IDEA students are starting their first day in Pre-K. IDEA’s Pre-K program teaches the foundational skills every student needs. As IDEA Academy students persist each year, they are exposed to a combination of intimate, individualized instruction, and web-based, support from the nation’s leading educational technologies and software. Last year, IDEA had nearly 3,000 academy students qualify as Royal Readers for reading more than 1 million words.

Through IDEA’s AP For All initiative, every IDEA college preparatory student is required to take at least 11 AP courses as part of their core coursework. This strategy provides equity of access to rigorous and challenging coursework for all students. Not only does the coursework help prepare students for college, it allows them the opportunity to earn college credit before ever stepping foot onto a college campus.

“We take pride in the fact that as we continue to grow to serve more students, our results continue to get better year after year,” said JoAnn Gama, president and superintendent at IDEA Public Schools. “Everyone, from our school leaders and teachers to campus operations staff, are committed to sending 100% of our students to and through college, and we are looking forward to another great year ahead.”

IDEA is home to six of the best high schools in Texas and the nation, according to US News and World Report and the Washington Post and the demand for IDEA schools in new communities continues to grow.

To learn more about IDEA Public Schools, contact Kisella Cardenas at kisella.cardenas@ideapublicschools.org, or (956) 998-9120.

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