Chapel Hill Academy, a public charter school operated by the Fort Worth-based nonprofit Lena Pope, will close its doors permanently.
Increasing variety of school options, funding woes and a declining enrollment led to the academy’s closure, officials said in an April 26 statement.
“Lena Pope’s leadership and advisers have conducted thorough evaluations and sought various remedies to sustain enrollment,” a statement from the nonprofit stated. “Despite these extensive efforts, it has become clear that Lena Pope must make the incredibly difficult tough decision to close Chapel Hill Academy effective Aug. 31, 2024.”
Chapel Hill Academy opened in 2008 to address what Lena Pope, a nonprofit organization focusing on the well-being of Tarrant County children and families, saw as a pressing need for quality charter schools in Fort Worth. The school, 4640 Sycamore School Road, serves pre-K through eighth grade.
Starting a charter school was a natural next step for Lena Pope, the nonprofit wrote in its 2007 application to the Texas Education Agency.
The school’s inaugural class had 127 students, according to TEA data.
Enrollment steadily grew to a peak of 763 students during the 2020-21 school year. After that, nearly 1 in 3 students left the charter school.
Currently, 535 students attend Chapel Hill Academy.
Since 2008, the education landscape in Fort Worth has grown to include 15 charter systems in addition to 12 school districts, a growing homeschool population and more than 30 private schools.
Charter schools are public schools in Texas and receive funding based on attendance. Fewer students in class means fewer dollars from the state.
As enrollment increased, so did Chapel Hill Academy’s spending. During its first decade, the school mostly had a balanced budget and even had excess revenues.
However, the school started to spend more than its revenue starting in the 2017-18 academic year, financial data from TEA shows.
Higher expenses resulted in the school spending more per student. Chapel Hill Academy spent $11,563 per student during the 2023-24 school year.
Lena Pope plans to help Chapel Hill Academy families and educators with their next steps, CEO Ashley Elgin said in a statement. The school plans to host an enrollment fair so families can find the best school for their children. The charter school’s staff also will receive assistance in finding new positions either with the nonprofit or elsewhere.
Going forward, Lena Pope plans to focus on two high-demand areas, Elgin said: mental health services and early childhood education.
“We are entering a phase where our resources and expertise in these service areas need to be expanded, and we remain financially solvent and capable of investing in high demand services as we enter this transition,” Elgin said.
Jacob Sanchez is an enterprise journalist for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
