Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk is set to launch the first of a planned nationwide network of private schools that are focused on teaching “classic, pro-American” curriculum along with a full rejection of critical race theory, “wokeism,” and “anti-American ideas.”
Kirk has launched Turning Point Academy, the first of which will be a collaboration with Dream City Christian School, a current K-12 private school in Arizona that is expecting more than 600 students in the fall.
According to Fox News:
Kirk said Turning Point Academy will adhere to “bedrock principles,” including to “never waver from the truth and to teach self-government and liberty to students” and to reject critical race theory, “wokeism, deconstructionism, queer theory, radical LGBT agendas,” anti-American ideas, and more.
“Dream City Christian is an amazing collaborator in this project and we’re so grateful to do this together,” Kirk told the network. “They already have an amazing start, including a physical school, a faculty, and much of the groundwork laid.”
“Turning Point Academy, for our part, is uniquely positioned to take the school to the next level,” Kirk said, noting his organization’s role in helping shape pro-America education for a decade.
“We have access to some of the best educational resources, teachers, academics and curriculums this country has to offer – we can bring those to bear as we relaunch Dream City Christian as the first Turning Point Academy, ensuring it is a model for others to follow as we launch additional Turning Point Academies around the country,” he added.
The TPUSA founder also told Fox News that Turning Point Academy plans to offer “both a classic, pro-American curriculum as well as a Christian educational programming option, allowing local stakeholders to determine their preferred model based on the needs, wants and desires of that community.”
“In the past couple of years, it has been really clear, especially post-COVID, and during COVID, how parents have been frustrated with their local schools and demanding more for their kids’ education, which, I think, is a virtuous and moral cause,” Kirk told the network, adding that his organization has “been tossing this idea around for a while.”
“We saw this opportunity locally in Phoenix to collaborate and work together in an alliance on this project,” Kirk said.
He noted further that Turning Point Academy plans to place “an emphasis on academic rigor,” and is currently in the process of training educators. He added that enrollment in Turning Point Academy is currently open and that there are already more than 30 teachers and administrators on staff, noting further that more will join the roster in the weeks ahead.
“Parents in Phoenix, and across the country, everywhere I go, parents are complaining about curriculum, lockdowns, school boards, critical race theory, and more,” Kirk said.
“At TPUSA, we want to be a part of the solution, and so, this is going to be the first of what we hope to be many school projects across the country,” he added.
Turning Point USA is a nonprofit organization that Kirk founded a decade ago. The organization has since grown to have a presence on over 3,000 college and high school campuses across the country. In addition, the organization has a political arm called Turning Point Action.
In recent months, several school boards have been taken over by more conservative members who ran on platforms of pushing back against CRT and ‘woke’ content and curriculum including gender-fluid and LGBTQ materials, many of which are highly sexualized and deemed inappropriate for children.
In the fall of 2021, Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin shocked observers when he beat Democratic candidate and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe after running on a pledge to push back on woke school curriculum and support parental rights in schools. McAuliffe’s campaign nosedived after he claimed that only teachers should have a say about what happens in classrooms.
In addition to Youngkin, Republicans also won the lieutenant governor’s race and the race for state attorney general, turning the state back toward the ‘red’ column after Virginia had been purple and trending blue over the past few election cycles.
Florida Republicans, at the urging of GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, have also passed a series of parental rights laws barring K-3 students from being shown inappropriate sexual and gender-fluid materials.
