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Charter Schools

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Charter schools provide options for parents and students while allowing communities and educators to create innovative instructional programs that can be replicated elsewhere in the public school system.

All charter schools in Virginia are nonsectarian alternative public schools located within a school division and under the authority of a local school board.

Virginia Public Charter School Law

Charter School Legislation

Public Charter School Application

At the July 2024 Board of Education Meeting, the Board of Education approved a revised Public Charter School Application Process, Application, and Evaluation Rubric.

Application Documents

Completed public charter school applications should be sent to charters@doe.virginia.gov.

Department Technical Support

 Ms. Sofia McDaniel, Senior Innovation Policy Analyst, is the Department's lead on Charter Schools. You can reach Ms. McDaniel at sofia.mcdaniel@doe.virginia.gov. 

Board of Education Review

Prior to Board of Education review, a public charter school application is reviewed by the Charter School Standing Committee. The Charter School Standing Committee serves as a technical review panel of members with charter school experience and/or expertise to score the application package using the evaluation criteria. 

If the Charter School Standing Committee determines the public charter school application satisfies the Board of Education's criteria, then the application proceeds to Board of Education review. If the Board of Education determines the application satisfies the Board of Education's criteria, then the application proceeds to local school board review. In Virginia, the local school board is the ultimate authorizer of a public charter school application. 

U.S. Department of Education Charter School Program Grants

The U.S. Department of Education's (USED) Charter Schools Program (CSP) oversees several grant opportunities each year. Additional information is available on the USED website.

Public Charter School Fund

In 2007, the General Assembly created within the treasury a special public charter school fund. Gifts, grants, bequests or donations from public or private sources paid into the state treasury and credited to the fund are used solely for the purposes of establishing or supporting public charter schools. See Criteria for Making Distributions from the Public Charter School Fund (PDF).

Charter School Annual Reports

Annually, the Board of Education submits to the Governor a report on the condition and needs of public schools in Virginia. This report articulates major improvements, accomplishments and challenges facing public education in the commonwealth. The charter school report is found in the appendix of the report.

Virginia's Public Charter Schools

There are seven public charter schools operating in Virginia.

  • Community Lab School, Albemarle County
  • Middleburg Community Charter School, Loudoun County
  • York River Academy, York County
  • Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, Richmond
  • Green Run Collegiate, Virginia Beach
  • Richmond Career Education and Employment Academy, Richmond
  • Hillsboro Charter Academy, Loudoun County

Community Lab School – Albemarle County

  • School Division: Albemarle County
  • Grade Levels: 6-12
  • Number of Students: 210
  • Opened: February 2001
  • Website:  Community Lab School

Community Lab School (formerly Murray High School, renamed after merging with Community Public Charter Middle School in 2020) aims to foster creativity and intellectual curiosity through art and design, experiential learning, mastery, and student agency.  As an educational laboratory for student-centered learning, the school designs and pilots nontraditional and equity-focused approaches to learning that align to ACPS mission, vision, and goals with intent to inform practices more broadly.  Areas of emphasis include:

  • Interdisciplinary, Arts-Infused Curriculum
  • Mastery Learning and Standards-Based Reporting
  • Inquiry, Experiential, and Project-Based Instruction
  • Self-Directed Learning and Independent Study
  • Experiential and Community-Based Learning
  • Elective Pathway Emphasis on Creative Arts, Media, and Design

Partners in research have included the University of Virginia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, Maker Education Initiative, and others.  In July 2018, CLS became the first public school in Virginia and one of the first in the country to join the Mastery Transcript Consortium.

School Administrator:

Chad Ratliff, Principal
Community Lab School
1200 Forest Street
Charlottesville, VA 22093
Phone: 434-296-3090
Fax: 434-979-6479
Email: cratliff@k12albemarle.org

School Division Contact:

Jay Thomas, Director of Secondary Education
Albemarle County Public Schools
401 McIntire Road
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Phone: 434-296-5820
Fax: 434-296-5805

Middleburg Community Charter School – Loudoun County

Overview

PURPOSE – Promote scholars of character who are curious, confident, and love to learn, by employing innovative educational approaches in a school that our scholars love.

Teaching and learning at Middleburg Community Charter School (MCCS) focuses on student academic success in the context of an integrated program influenced by the life and thinking habits of Leonardo DaVinci. The program is designed to meet Virginia academic standards, in addition to increasing student confidence and capacity for generating ideas at the college level and beyond.

Da Vinci’s Seven Principles

  • Curiosity (Curiosita) – An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.
  • Demonstration (Dimonstrazione) – A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and willingness to learn from mistakes.
  • Sensation (Sensazione) – The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.
  • Smoke (Sfumato) – Becoming open to the unknown. A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
  •  Art and Science (Arte/Scienza) – Whole-Brain thinking. The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination.
  • The Body (Corporalita) – The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise. Balancing the body and mind
  • Connection (Connessione) – A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. Systems thinking.

MCCS is starting to evolve past Project-Based Learning toward Place-Based Education. That is the idea that students are active participants in their immediate community with the ability to identify problems and solve them. We emphasize a progressive, whole-child approach with a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)-based curriculum taught to blended classrooms (grades K/1, 2/3, 4/5).

Middleburg Community Charter School is a tuition-free Loudoun County Public School (LCPS). We opened in the fall of 2014 as the first public charter school in Northern Virginia. MCCS is governed by a community-based board of directors, but operates under the umbrella of LCPS and is open to any elementary student living in the Loudoun County.

School Administrator:

Stephen Robinson, Principal
101 North Madison Street
Middleburg, VA 20177
Phone: 540-687-5048
Fax: 703-542-1257
Email: Stephen.Robinson@lcps.org

School Division Contact:

Dr. Mike Martin, Director of Elementary Education
Loudoun County Public Schools
21000 Education Court
Ashburn, Virginia 20148
Phone:  571-252-1290
Fax:  571-252-1166
Email: mike.martin@lcps.org

York River Academy – York County

  • School Division: York County
  • Grade Levels: 9-12
  • Number of Students: 75
  • Opened: September 2002
  • Website: York River Academy

York River Academy provides an academic, social, and career preparatory education in computer and web-based technology for students at risk of not graduating or graduating below potential. The curriculum is designed around a structured four-year plan where students are divided among cohorts and take classes leading to a Virginia standard diploma. Students also work toward accomplishing Information Technology industry certification and acquiring practical work place readiness skills. The school has a dynamic parent partnership program and community involvement.

School Administrator:

Holly Sheffield, Principal
York River Academy
11201 George Washington Highway
Yorktown, VA 23692
Phone: 757-898-0516
Fax: 855-369-2615
Email: hsheffield@ycsd.york.va.us

School Division Contact:

Candi Skinner, Chief Academic Officer
York County Public Schools
302 Dare Road
Yorktown, VA 23692-2795
Phone: 757-898-0300
Fax: 855-878-9063
Email: cskinner@ycsd.york.va.us 

Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts – Richmond

  • School Division: Richmond
  • Grade Level: K-5
  • Number of students: 340
  • Opened: August 2010
  • Website: Patrick Henry Charter

The mission is to establish a school based on parent, educator, and community involvement. The school intends to provide the children of the ethnically and socio-economically diverse Richmond community with an academically rigorous science and liberal arts curriculum that emphasizes environmental awareness and social responsibility.

School Administrator:

Dr. Eileen Atkinson, Principal
3411 Semmes Avenue 
Richmond VA  23225
Phone: 804-888-7061
Fax: 804-888-7064
Email: eatkinso@vaschools.net

School Division Contact:

Harry Hughes, Chief Schools Officer
301 North Ninth Street, 17th Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: 804-780-7901
Fax: 804-780-7515
Email: hhughes@rvaschools.net

Green Run Collegiate – Virginia Beach City

  • School Division: Virginia Beach City
  • Grade Levels: 9-12
  • Number of Students: 371
  • Opened September 2013 first graduation class in 2016-2017
  • Website: Green Run Collegiate

The mission of Green Run Collegiate (GRC) is to engage students in critical thinking and teamwork to empower them toward college and career readiness and global citizenship as community leaders. GRC, as a Virginia Beach City Public Charter School, is committed to providing all students with the necessary skills to thrive as 21st century learners, workers, and citizens. GRC has specialized focus on college and career readiness with an emphasis on knowledge, civic, social and personal development for students. The curriculum includes the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (MYP) (9-10), the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (DP) (11-12), the International Baccalaureate Career Certificate Program (IBCC) (11-12) and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) for all students.

School Administrator: 

Rianne J. Patricio, Head of School
Green Run Collegiate
1700 Dahlia Dr., Suite 400
Virginia Beach, VA 23453
Phone: 757-648-5393
Fax: 757-965-3089
Email: Rianne.Patricio@vbschools.com

School Division Contact:

Cheryl R. Woodhouse, Senior Executive Director, High Schools, Office of School Leadership
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
2512 George Mason Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23456-0038
Phone: 757-263-1088  
Fax: 757-263-1260
Email: Cheryl.Woodhouse@vbschools.com

Richmond Career Education and Employment Academy – Richmond

The mission of Richmond Career Education and Employment Academy is to provide an intensive functional life skills curriculum that is oriented toward career education and competitive employment for Richmond students, ages 14-21. These students have significant cognitive disabilities, lack a functional communication system, demonstrate significant deficits in social competence, and typically graduate with a Special Diploma. The school will enhance the productive contributions and vocational capacities of youth with significant disabilities who have typically not been competitively employed nor been seen as having the ability to be competitively employed upon graduation. Students appropriate for the Richmond Career Education and Employment Academy typically will enter with poorly developed functional communication and social skills as well as severe academic challenges. Outcomes for all students will be competitive employment, enrollment in meaningful post-secondary programs, or other productive activity that contributes directly to the well-being of the community.

School Administrator:

Maurice Burton, Principal
4225 Old Brook Road
Richmond. VA 23227
Phone: 804-230-7763
Fax: 804-230-7766
Email: mburton2@rvaschools.net

School Division Contact:  

Jason Kamras, Superintendent of Schools
301 North Ninth Street, 17th Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: 804-780-7700
Email: jkamras@rvaschools.net 

Hillsboro Charter Academy – Loudoun County

  • School Division: Loudoun County
  • Grade Levels: K-5
  • Number of Students: 144
  • Opening: Fall 2016
  • Website: Hillsboro Charter Academy

The Hillsboro Charter Academy provides a curriculum that uses research-based educational practices and methodologies. Student learning plans are designed to meet individual needs and incorporate an interdisciplinary approach that blends the visual and performing arts, technology education, science exploration, mathematics, and design engineering concepts in a cross-curricular structure.  Educators incorporate project based-lessons that immerse students in sensory activities to stimulate and develop students’ higher order thinking skills.

School Administrator:

Paul L. Vickers, Principal
37110 Charles Town Pike
Hillsboro, VA  20132
Phone: 540-751-2560
Fax: 703-771-6732
Email: Paul.Vickers@hillsborocharter.org

School Division Contact:

Dr. Mike Martin, Director of Elementary Education
Loudoun County Public Schools
21000 Education Court
Ashburn, Virginia 20148
Phone:  571-252-1290
Fax:  571-252-1166
Email: mike.martin@lcps.org