Our History
How did IDEA begin?
1998
During their stints as Teach For America corps members, Tom Torkelson and JoAnn Gama founded the IDEA Academy as an after school program in Donna, TX in 1998. It was created as a way to help combat some of the major educational deficiencies they saw in their students, focusing the program on student achievement and college readiness.
2000
Torkelson and Gama named the program IDEA, an acronym for “Individuals Dedicated to Excellence and Achievement,” and “No Excuses!” was their motto. IDEA enjoyed quick success, and the state of Texas granted a charter to IDEA in 2000. Beginning with only grades 4 to 8, the original flagship campus in Donna has expanded into a Pre-K — 12 campus today.
2005 - 2012
IDEA Public Schools embarked upon an ambitious expansion plan in 2005, titled “The 2012 Plan,” with the goal of launching 22 IDEA schools across the Rio Grande Valley by the year 2012.
2013 - 2018
With the opening of 18 new campuses for the 2018-19 school year, IDEA now serves more than 45,000 students in 79 schools across Texas (San Antonio, Austin, and the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso, and Southern Louisiana).
2019 - 2022
By 2022, we will operate 173 schools in 10 regions educating 100,000 students on their road to college.
2,100
Graduating Seniors
100%
College Bound
12 YRS
In a Row
The flagship campus in Donna graduated its first class of seniors in 2007, sending 100% of its graduating students to college. To date, IDEA has kept its promise of sending all students to college. In the 2017-18 school year, IDEA graduated more than 849 seniors from ten campuses, and for the twelfth consecutive year, 100% of our seniors were accepted to college.