Virginia could soon see its first new charter school in nearly nine years. On Thursday, May 8, the state Board of Education’s Charter School Standing Committee will review an application for the Harbor School, a proposed middle school in Richmond.

The Harbor School’s model is based on a homeschool pilot program started by New Schools for Virginia, that began during the pandemic and lasted until 2022. The school uses a learner-centered approach, where teachers and students come up with education plans that align with students’ interests, while preparing them for life after high school.

“After 20 years in Richmond education, I’ve seen first hand that one size fits all schooling doesn’t serve all children,” said Jon Bibbs, NSVA’s director of community engagement. “The Harbor School was built with our families, for the kind of future we want to see for our children. It’s a place where kids are seen, challenged and lifted up.”

Jayden Crosby-Brewer, now a high school junior, took part in the homeschool pilot program during his eighth-grade year. Before that, he attended traditional public schools, but said he felt disconnected—even in honors-level courses—because of the routine lesson structure and large class sizes.

“I think when you have so many students in the classroom, it could be really hard to put focus on one student. If … one student is getting it and you have about 36 and only that one student is answering your question, you can make the assumption that the class knows, but the truth is that we just didn’t know,” Crosby-Brewer said.

Crosby-Brewer isn’t alone in feeling left behind by traditional schooling. In 2024, only 44.38% of Black and 41.3% of Hispanic eighth graders in Richmond City schools passed the SOL English Reading exam, compared to 92.17% of White eighth graders, according to the Virginia Department of Education. While the Harbor School is tuition-free and open to students across Richmond, enrollment is limited. According to a press release from the school, it was designed with the experiences of Richmond’s Black youth in mind..

Tonya Robinson, whose two children were part of the pilot program, helped shape the school’s early design. She also worked with the school to gather parent feedback through community interviews and discussions.

“Before this program, I couldn’t see where my kids would be in five years. And with this program, they were telling me what they wanted… They went from not knowing nothing about what they wanted in the next five years for their life to planning and I have a senior next year that’s in a criminal justice program,” Robinson said.

The school’s application was accepted by the Virginia Board of Education in April and is scheduled for review by the Charter School Standing Committee on May 8. That committee will make a recommendation for approval or denial to the full board, which will then vote on the application.

If approved, the Harbor school plans to apply to become a part of the Richmond Public School system in October of 2025 and open in the Fall of 2026. The school would be located in Richmond, but the exact location has not yet been determined.

The Harbor School plans to have 48 students when it opens, but expects to have 324 students at full enrollment five years after opening.

According to Virginia law, charter schools cannot operate privately or with goals of profit, and must be tuition-free and open to all. They operate within the public schools system and must be authorized and overseen by local school boards.

Fifth district Richmond School Board member Stephanie Rizzi expressed concerns about equity issues that could arise from having to share resources with charter schools.

The public school system has not been a priority for state or federal funding, and is facing teacher and staff shortages, she said.

“I’m sure that [Harbor School leaders] are coming from a good place and that they really do have great ideas,” Rizzi said. “Maybe we could take those ideas and see if we can’t integrate them into public schools in some kind of way. And if not, then that’s where the advocacy needs to happen.”

Jonathan Bibbs responded to those concerns by saying many Richmond students can’t afford to wait for change to happen at the state level.“They need a drastic, what we call a transformational change, in their educational experience. And we think that under Virginia law, the mechanism that’s available for us to achieve that kind of transformational innovative change is our charter school,” Bibbs said.

If the Harbor School were authorized by the Richmond Public School System, it would receive the same amount of funding per student allocated to traditional public schools within the district. Bibbs said that this funding would cover about one third of the school’s anticipated operational costs for the first year, but that they plan to raise funds through donations to cover the remaining two thirds.

“Then, over the next four years after that first year, the ask will increase,” Bibbs said. “But here’s the good news—and this is different from any other public school—if RPS looks at the Harbor School at the end of that five years and it determines that it is not worth the investment … they get to shut it down. And that is a really important thing because you can’t do that with any other kind of public school.”

Virginia requires charter schools to use a lottery system for enrollment. Bibbs added that the Harbor School has considered implementing a tiered lottery to give priority to economically disadvantaged students and is recruiting in communities the school is designed to support.