Activists in Virginia and Florida have had enough of the left-wing indoctrination and poor performance of typical government schools and are starting their own. Craig DiSesa and Kris Allen of the Middle Resolution PAC are opening a Thales Academy school near Richmond to teach traditional Western values and true U.S. history. The school will open with 60 kids in grades K-3 and expand later when it demonstrates success. The money has been raised and a building has been rented. A headmaster has been selected and enrollment has started. Getting teachers will be no problem – Thales Academy has a waiting list of a thousand teachers hoping to flee public schools! The Richmond school will aim for the $5,500/year tuition price point, far below typical private schools. All students are welcome and efforts will be made to attract disadvantaged students. Some scholarships are available through the Thales website.

Tea Partiers started the 5th Hillsdale charter school in Florida – the Treasure Coast Classical Academy (TCCA) in Stuart, Florida, 100 miles north of Miami. The Academy began with K through 2, but is now enrolling through the 7th grade. The activists chose the Hillsdale program because its four other schools in the state have a successful track record and because Hillsdale knows how to get it done. Charter schools are considered public schools. The teachers must be certified and the students must take state tests but, unlike typical public schools, these charter schools offer a “classical education in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue.” People love TCCA and there is a waiting list to get in, Cindy Lucas of the Martin 9/12 Committee told Liberato.US. A driving force in the school choice movement in Florida is the power couple of Erika and Byron Donalds. Erika founded a school choice organization and helped start a Hillsdale charter school. Byron serves on education committees in the state legislature and is running for Congress.

The school Erika helped found – Mason Classical Academy – scored number one in English Language Arts in its county in 2017. Education expert Alex Newman theorized the high score resulted from teaching phonics instead of the ineffective but tragically common whole-sight reading method. Alex wrote an article about the school when he learned he was right.

Alex is co-author of the best-selling education book Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children. Although he has some caveats, Alex comes down solidly on the side of activists starting their own schools. As he told Liberato.US: