In the fall of 2000, my wife, Michelle, came to me, bursting with excitement about a school she had heard about up at the Sundance ski resort. It was a small one-room elementary school with only about 40 students. She had plans to visit the next day, and when she came back that evening, she was even more thrilled. The school was free to attend and was a charter school. At the time, I had heard of charter schools but didn’t know much about them. However, her excitement quickly turned to disappointment when she learned there was a waiting list with hundreds of children, meaning our kids had almost no chance of attending.

While visiting with the principal, Michelle discovered that there were two groups in Utah trying to start new charter schools — one in Cache Valley and the other in northern Utah County. Since we lived in Lindon, Utah, she contacted Debbie Besselievre, who was leading the effort to start a school called Timpanogos Academy.

The next day, Michelle met Debbie and learned about their mission. Debbie had recently moved from Colorado, where her children attended a Core Knowledge charter school that she loved, and she wanted to create something similar here in Utah. She had already put flyers on doors in Cedar Hills, gathering about a dozen families to support the cause.

As Michelle and I became more involved, we learned a lot about charter schools and their origins in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin. We also found out that the little school in Sundance was part of a small pilot program created in 1998 through Utah Legislation sponsored by Rep. Brian Allen. This program allowed up to eight charter schools to be established for a few years. Unfortunately, the new school phase of the pilot was over, and the entire program was set to expire.

Determined to make a difference, we joined forces with another group working to start a school in Logan (which later became Thomas Edison Charter School). Together, we set out to pass a bill expanding charter schools and making the program permanent. In this process, we met Sen. Howard Stephenson, who sponsored SB169 in the 2001 Legislative session. This bill allowed for the creation of four new state-sponsored charter schools per year plus unlimited district-sponsored charter schools. It also removed the “pilot” status, giving existing schools much-needed stability.

Later that year, three new charters were granted — to Thomas Edison Charter School, John Hancock Charter School and Timpanogos Academy. At the time, it felt like the end of all our challenges, but little did we know that it was just the beginning. Back in 2001, there was no startup funding for charter schools; the first dollars wouldn’t arrive until July of the year we were supposed to open. We received no local district funding, leaving us with only the state Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU) money to work with.

By 2002, I realized charter schools needed to organize to address the many inequities in the system. It was nearly impossible to operate in the same way traditional public schools did. So, I gathered the leaders of the 11 existing charter schools, and together, we created the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools (UAPCS). The UAPCS was formed with two primary goals: to share best practices between schools and to advocate for all charter schools. Initially, we focused on the most urgent issue — funding. We were able to create startup grant programs and made headway in securing funding, similar to what district schools received through local property taxes.

We also noticed that the state wasn’t granting the four new charters per year that they were allowed. Instead, they sent all the applications back to the school districts, where support was minimal. We teamed up with Parents for Choice in Education (led by none other than our own Royce Van Tassell) and Rep. Marda Dillree, who sponsored HB152 in the 2003 session. The bill created the Utah State Charter School Board (USCSB), which would review and recommend charter applications for approval to the Utah State School Board (USSB). The bill also required that members of the USCSB demonstrate support for charter schools and that the USSB should only deny recommended applications with strong reason.

I served on the USCSB for many years, and Michelle just finished two four-year terms in July. Over the past 25 years, we’ve watched the dedication of so many people help the charter school movement grow and evolve. Countless children have benefited from having their unique needs met by a system that fosters innovation and choice. Not only have charter schools provided more options for parents and students, but their very existence has pushed traditional public schools to innovate and improve as well.

This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive account of the early days of charter schools in Utah, but rather a first-person reflection on our journey. It has been a blessing to be involved and to have played a small part in the progress of such a meaningful movement.