Quick Facts: Orenda Education
Founded: August, 1995
Type of Organization: Private 501 © 3 Not-for-Profit Corporation
The Need: To enhance our American public education system through improved teaching, innovation in instructional methods, and integration of technology to personalize learning and create more engaged students.
Our Mission: To create new and innovative school choice opportunities in Central Texas for families seeking an alternative to the large, more traditional public school system.
Our Vision: To be a leader in the school choice movement, providing life-changing academic instruction to students who may not reach their academic and human potential in the large, more traditional public school system.
Our Purpose: The Corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes. Orenda Education is also the not-for-profit sponsoring entity for the Orenda Charter School District, an “open- enrollment charter school” district. A charter school is a public school sponsored by a private, not-for-profit organization.
Company Values:
- Education Freedom. So long as the government is forcing a citizen to pay a tax for public schooling, that citizen should have the freedom to choose an educational option that best meets the needs of their children, and aligns with their family values. Those options should include charter schools, home schooling, traditional public schools, small learning pods, private schools, etc. The dollars expropriated for public education should follow the child.
- Scholarship. Our schools promote open inquiry and scholarship, keeping the academic standards high. While we believe in equal opportunity, we appreciate the vast differences in circumstances, intellect, abilities, and motivations that impact what they can learn, and how fast. Therefore, while we do not believe all students need to attend a four-year college or university, we teach each student how to take ownership over their learning, and be an independent critical thinker.
- Citizenship. Our schools support the ideas and values of our Founding Fathers as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States of America. Our students should be sufficiently knowledgeable to defend and promote those founding principles of: liberty as a blessing, natural rights, free-enterprise capitalism, and the sovereignty of the people.
- Student - Centered. We will stay focused on the students, and how our school can enhance their well-being. The school story is about the students. Teachers, administrators and support staff are guides showing them what is possible, and how to avoid the obstacles that stand in their way to success. Decisions are to be made with the students’ best interest in mind, not the adults.
- Teacher Quality. To be a great school you need the best teachers who can convey, inspire, and motivate children to learn. Our company will work each day to create and sustain a school culture that allows our teachers to thrive, while at the same time holding them, and ourselves, to the highest professional standards.
Strategic Plan: To serve 4,000 students in eight Central Texas area campuses by the year 2032. The school district will have one “flagship college preparatory K – 12 campus” serving approximately 1,500 students that is also a member of the University Interscholastic League, and seven smaller “special mission campuses” serving approximately 2,500 students.
