Del Rey Education and USA Classical Academy Join Forces to Expand American Classical Education

In January, 2022, Del Rey Education and USA Classical Academy unknowingly submitted simultaneous applications to bring tuition-free American classical education to Williamson County, TN. Del Rey has partnered with Texas-based charter school operator, ResponsiveEd, to bring its Founders Classical Academies, a successful, growing brand of 20 classical schools, to Williamson County. TN-based nonprofit Del Rey Education is seeking to open its Founders campus as early as August 2023. USA Classical Academy was seeking to open its own school, originally affiliated with Hillsdale College’s Barney Charter School Initiative, in August of 2023. However, due to USA Classical’s board recognizing the advanced infrastructure Del Rey already had in place through ResponsiveEd, they withdrew their application to the Williamson County School District in February in hopes of combining forces.

Meeting Desires of Local Families

In an effort to serve the desires of over 300 Williamson County families who had supported USA Classical’s effort for over a year, Del Rey invited founding members of USA Classical’s board, Mitch Emoff and Cassie Chapman, to join Del Rey Education’s board, and the organization resubmitted a revised application to WCSD. Chapman will now serve as Del Rey’s board president.

“There’s so much parental support for bringing American classical education as a tuition-free alternative for Williamson County families, we just don’t want to let these families down,” said Brian Haas, now Del Rey Vice President. “As a 20 year-old nonprofit organization with over 3,000 employees, operating over 85 public charter schools, including 20 Founders Classical Academies, we partnered with ResponsiveEd because they have the strength and experience to guarantee success for these families.”

In response to Williamson parents, Del Rey Education is working with ResponsiveEd, whose Founders brand has campuses located in some of the lowest and highest performing districts in Texas. Even in high-performing districts like Frisco and Prosper, the Founders schools have waitlists equal to, or exceeding, their enrollment. If approved in Williamson, Founders will not only contribute to further improving the district’s state assessment scores, but will take on some of the burden of financing new, high-performing schools for the district while providing parents with the alternative they desire.

Interested families can follow the Williamson campus Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersClassicalWilliamson

Or, the Sumner Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FoundersClassicalHendersonville/