We empower, invest in, and support educational leaders who take risks and put children first.
LET LEARNING GROW.
EMPOWER
We empower educational leaders in the Gem State by providing one- or two-year fellowships to those who take risks and put children first.
INVEST
In partnership with the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation, Bluum serves as a funding intermediary and local champion for supporting entrepreneurial education ventures.
SUPPORT & IMPROVE
Bluum provides partner schools with additional services and technical assistance. Our team can help elevate the business of running a school by reviewing financial infrastructure and identifying areas of strength and areas for improvement.
DISCOVER & INFORM
Bluum has become a go-to resource on education research and innovation. We aim to share the work of Idaho’s high performing schools and outstanding educators. Our hope is that it can become a national model for helping all children reach their fullest potential.
$20,392,682
FEDERAL CHARTER SCHOOLS PROGRAM INVESTMENT
16,487
TOTAL NEW SCHOOL SEATS CREATED
40
TOTAL IDAHO SCHOOLS SUPPORTED
$70,748,132
TOTAL PHILANTHROPIC INVESTMENT
Stories
Andy Johnson began working as an administrator at the Sage International Network of Schools (with a campus in Boise and another in Middleton) in July of 2020, and immediately noticed that too many students weren’t learning how to read fluently.
Something clearly was wrong.
He examined the reading curriculum being used and concluded that was a major part of the problem. Students too often weren’t being taught to sound out words, but rather to infer meaning from pictures or hypothesize what word might work in a sentence. The curriculum employed a common practice called three-cueing used in schools across the country for the past several decades.
Rosamaria Villaseñor, a sophomore at Elevate Academy in Caldwell, has been selected from a competitive pool of over 100 applicants from public charter schools nationwide to join the 2023-2024 class of Rising Leaders. She shares, “I am really nervous to do something like this since I’ve never done anything like it before. But I’m really looking forward to meeting other students from across the nation and getting to work with them”. Rosamaria is the first Idaho student to receive this honor.
Dr. Jacob Francom is a first-rate educator from Montana who will serve as the founding principal of the North Idaho Classical Academy (NICA) in Bonners Ferry. The school is expected to open in 2025. NICA is part of the American Classical Schools-Idaho (ACS-I) network, aligned with Hillsdale College’s Barney Charter School Initiative (BCSI). NICA, at full-enrollment, will serve 360 K-12 Idaho students.
2021 Annual Report
We have the privilege of serving some of Idaho’s finest school leaders in helping them educate and support their thousands of families and students. In 2021, the real heroes in our orbit were our 30 plus partner schools and their teams.
Read The Report
Hispanic Parents Talk About Schools & Life in Idaho
Measuring How Well Idaho is Meeting Public Charter School Facility Needs
Lessons and challenges from Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico