LGBTQ Charter Schools Receiving Tax Dollars

Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that typically operate independently from school district systems. Because these schools are public, they are funded with state and federal tax dollars.

A recent trend is the creation of charter schools specifically for students who identify as LGBTQ. These charter schools are known for teaching young students gender ideology as a matter of fact and focusing on LGBTQ identities. These LGBTQ-focused schools exist in “blue states” such as California and New York as well as in “red states” and “purple states” such as Alabama, Ohio, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Texas.

Below are five LGBTQ-themed charter schools accepting state and federal dollars in these states.

Magic City Acceptance Academy (Grades 6-12)

Fiscal Year 2023 Budget

State Tax Dollars: $2,850,331

Federal Tax Dollars: $659,803

The Magic City Acceptance Academy (MCAA) is a public charter school for students in middle and high school that claims to “provide a brave learning environment and LGBTQ affirming culture for all.” The school is located in Homewood, Alabama, and claims to operate “100% tuition free for everyone.” The school promotes its connection to LGBTQ causes and issues. The school’s website page for the Board of Directors explicitly promotes the demographics of the board’s members, including that six out of the twelve board members “identify as LGBTQ.”

The school additionally has a clothing shop for students and the community. This shop sells shirts that state “Trans Rights Are Human Rights,” “Say Gay,” and “Let Me Be Perfectly Queer.” The shop states that “all proceeds benefit the Magic City Acceptance Academy.”

The school also promotes the “Katherine Bland Social Justice Initiative.” The MCAA explains that it was able to create this initiative due to the “generous support of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham LGBTQ Fund.” The school claims: “This program provides the resources for numerous programs surrounding social justice including fieldtrips, community outreach, and art enrichment programs among others.”

The MCAA is also open about how it intends to spend taxpayer money. The school has its fiscal year 2023 budget data available to the public. The school’s budget has a revenue of $2,850,331 from “state sources” and a revenue of $659,803 from “federal sources.” An additional $1,700,000 comes from “other sources.”

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Albert Einstein Academy of Ohio (Lakewood campus is identified as LGBTQ school serving grades 7-12)

Annual Report 2022-2023

Federal Tax Dollars: $701,906

National Center for Education Statistics for 2019-2020 School Year

State Tax Dollars: $3,722,000

Federal Tax Dollars: $258,000

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools describes the Albert Einstein Academy of Ohio as “a charter network that expands across Ohio, and their campus in Lakewood is an LGBTQ-affirming campus.” The organization continues to explain about the public charter school: “In addition to serving LGBTQ kids, the school teaches children outside the community about acceptance and allyship. The goal of the school is to provide LGBTQ students in the area with resources, educational opportunities, and a safe place to be themselves.”

The homepage for the Albert Einstein Academy of Ohio’s website promotes a “Partnership Agreement” of “National LGBTQ+ Allies Schools.” Several public charter schools are listed in this partnership, including the Magic City Acceptance Academy and The Alliance School of Milwaukee from this investigation. The partnership was additionally formed with the Harvey Milk High School of New York City and PROUD Academy, Inc., of New Haven, Connecticut, on November 1, 2022.

The partnership agreement explicitly makes it clear that this union was formed for the purpose of political activism: “Whereas, that support includes, but is not limited to, recognizing ‘we are more than a school, we are a movement,’ therefore we benefit by networking, offering guidance for new schools opening and those already established, suggesting protocols when facing a hostile political climate, and forming collective partnerships with national LGBTQ+ organizations.” A goal is to help students and families “best navigate safe and affirming states, and within those states, safe and affirming schools.”

The page for the public charter school’s Lakewood campus explains that it is for students in the sixth grade through twelfth grade. Lakewood’s campus page features a rainbow flyer that states the campus is “Cleveland area’s first LGBTQ affirming and inclusive school.” The flyer labels the school as “tuition free” and specifically mentions that it offers “comprehensive special education and autism programming,” appearing to target autistic children.

Albert Einstein Academy of Ohio’s annual report for the 2022-2023 school year states that the overall public charter school has a total of 425 students, with 24 percent having disabilities. The report states that the curriculum taught to students will predominantly feature “global and multicultural themes” to create a “supportive school environment grounded in respectful awareness of all students’ beliefs and backgrounds.” This annual report states that the overall school has “total operating revenues” of $4,629,001. Of this revenue, $701,906 originates from “total federal grants.”

The National Center for Education Statistics has data on the Albert Einstein Academy of Ohio’s finances for the 2019-2020 school year. In that school year, the school had a total revenue of $4,040,000. Of this total, $258,000 came from federal sources, $3,722,000 came from state sources, and $60,000 came from local sources.

One-n-ten’s Queer Blended Learning Center (part of Arizona Virtual Academy)

Arizona Virtual Academy Fiscal Year 2022 Budget

State Tax Dollars: $62,396,692

Federal Tax Dollars: $6,604,655

One-n-ten’s Form 990 for 2022

Total Revenue: $3,856,370

The Arizona Virtual Academy is an online public charter school based in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. The public charter school promotes that families do not need to pay tuition for students. The school is for students in kindergarten through the twelfth grade. The Arizona Virtual Academy partnered with the LGBTQ organization “one-n-ten” in 2012 to create a “functional LGBTQ facility that will include a youth programming facility and alternative high school.” In a statement, one-n-ten explains:

This new 2900 sq. ft. facility enables one n ten to expand programming and accommodate more youth, including the addition of Q High, one n ten’s new learning center. Q High provides a high quality, accredited high school curriculum to enable LGBTQ youth who have dropped out of school the opportunity to earn a high school diploma.

This school is called the Queer Blended Learning Center (QBLC). One-n-ten states online: “QBLC is a partnership with Arizona Virtual Academy, a public online charter school.” The organization continues to explain: “Students have two enrollment options. The first follows a traditional semester schedule with youth enrolled in six online classes. The other options, allows students to enroll in the block schedule where they take three classes every nine weeks. All textbooks and classes are 100% online.” Potential students can “tour the one-n-ten Youth Center” before submitting an application.

One-n-ten has resources online for “youth” that includes “queer sex ed” that teaches children as young as 14 years old about “gender identity,” “fluidity,” and “how to navigate relationships as a trans or non-binary person.” The organization also appears to support hormone therapy and “gender-affirming surgery” for children. One-n-ten has a “TGNC (Trans and Gender Non-Conforming) Wellness” program where “youth” can discuss “Pronouns Support,” “Hormones 101,” “Gender Affirming Surgeries 101,” “How to Bind Safely, How to Tuck Safely,” “How to Select a LGBTQ Affirming Provider/Counselor,” and “Supporting a Healthy Transition.”

The Arizona Virtual Academy adopted a budget for fiscal year 2022 for a total $69,001,347. Of this total, $62,396,692 was designated from state sources. $6,604,655 was designated from federal sources.

One-n-ten’s Form 990 for 2022 showed that the organization had a total revenue of $3,856,370 for that year.

The Alliance School of Milwaukee (grades 9-12)

Milwaukee Public Schools 2023-2024 Budget

Milwaukee Public Schools Budget: $1.5 billion

The Alliance School of Milwaukee Budget: $2,289,760

The Alliance School of Milwaukee is a public charter school that is considered part of Milwaukee Public Schools in Wisconsin. The school district describes The Alliance School of Milwaukee as “a safe place for students regardless of sexuality, identity, appearance, ability, or beliefs.” The school serves students in the ninth through twelfth grade. The Alliance School of Milwaukee’s website states regarding the school:

The Alliance School of Milwaukee is a small, charter school of the Milwaukee Public School system. The Alliance School was the first school in the nation to start with a mission of reducing bullying. The school opened in 2005 with the goal of providing a safe and accepting environment for all students. The Alliance School is a place where it’s okay to be black, white, LGBTQ, straight, Gothic, Buddhist, Christian, or just plain unique!

The school’s website lists the organization Milwaukee LGBT Community Center as a partner. The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center is an organization that targets children with LGBTQ activism. The organization offers a “LGBTQIA+ Youth Support Group” online for children as young as 13 years old that is labeled as “confidential” and a “safe space.” The organization also promotes “Project Q” which consists of “drop-ins” that “are a safe space for youth (13+) to meet each other, exercise creativity, socialize with peers, and create a sense of community.” A purpose of Project Q is to also help schools implement “LGBTQIA+ affinity groups.”

Milwaukee Public Schools has a budget posted online for the 2023-2024 school year for $1.5 billion. This budget shows that the majority of this $1.5 billion comes from federal, state, and local sources. Of this total budget, $2,289,760 is designated for The Alliance School of Milwaukee.

Uplift Education

Fiscal Year 2023 Budget

State Tax Dollars: $225,148,000

Federal Tax Dollars: $60,926,000

Uplift Education is a network of self-described “free” public charter schools in the Dallas and Fort Worth area of Texas. Uplift Education’s website states that “we have now grown to a network serving more than 23,000 scholars in pre-k through 12th grade on 20 campuses across the D/FW metroplex.” The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools explains that the schools in this charter system “have a club called Safe Space, where students are encouraged to express themselves and be who they authentically are without judgment.” The charter system’s page for “Safe Space” states that it is “a place where anyone can relax and be able to fully express themselves, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe.”

On this same page, Uplift Education explains that it is “a participating district in the OUT for Safe Schools program.” The charter school system further explains:

The National OUT for Safe Schools Campaign was created to encourage school staff to publicly identify as supportive LGBTQ allies on campus. An OUT for Safe Schools ally is someone who advocates for the safety, inclusion and celebration of LGBTQ individuals. This lets students know that “safe spaces” aren’t limited to the classroom but extend to anywhere there is an adult wearing this badge.

StopBullying.gov has an explanation for how the “OUT for Safe Schools” program began: “In 2013, the Los Angeles LGBT Center and Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in coordination with other community partners, including the GSA Network, developed and launched OUT for Safe Schools to help make schools safer for LGBT students. More than 30,000 rainbow badges were provided to LAUSD teachers, administrators, and staff to wear voluntarily that proudly identify themselves as allies and protectors of students who are LGBT.” The program has since expanded nationwide.

Uplift Education also has a portal online where students or other community members can anonymously report other students for “bullying.”

The public charter school system has a page online encouraging parents to talk to their children “about racism and social justice.” The school system states:

This page contains resources that might be helpful as you have important discussions with your children about racism, inequality, and social injustice. We know that these conversations can be challenging, but we also know they are important as we work together to dismantle the systems and structures that have resulted in the brutality and violence we have witnessed.

One resource offered on this page links to the organization Center for Racial Justice in Education. This organization claims to support “racial justice” and describes this idea as “our guiding principle for a world in which white supremacy is abolished, and all systems of oppression are dismantled.” The organization’s goal is to train teachers into being political activists in the classroom:

As educators deepen their understanding of race, racism, White Supremacy, and the impact of racial bias—including their own unconscious biases—on children, they become more powerfully equipped to shift classroom dynamics, to re-write curriculum, to redesign institutional policies and practices in support of racial justice.

Uplift Education has a budget posted online for fiscal year 2023 for a total $292,835,000. Of this total, $225,148,000 will come from state sources. $60,926,000 will come from federal sources.