North Idaho Classical Academy announced Thursday it would delay its opening until the Fall of 2026, after a more than year-long struggle to find a suitable building in Bonners Ferry.
The public charter school was originally set to open in the fall of 2025.
Initially, the school planned to purchase a building outside of Bonners Ferry that formerly housed a youth mental health treatment facility, called Boulder Creek Academy.
However, the school has struggled to get approval from the Department of Environmental Quality to use the water and sewer system, said Jacob Francom, North Idaho Classical Academy’s principal. That lack of approval led to the Boundary County Planning and Zoning Commission not approving a conditional use permit.
The school’s board began looking at other options late last year, largely an old mill site in downtown Bonners Ferry behind the county fairgrounds. The property has been inactive for nearly 20 years, Francom said.
The school’s board approved a letter of intent to purchase the site from the Idaho Forrest Group. Francom said the school is also looking at a third site near the hospital in Bonner’s Ferry.
The struggle to secure a building led to NICA postponing the opening date by a year.
“The community has been so supportive of the school and I think they’ve understood a lot of the issues that we have been having getting approval,” Francom said.
Initially, NICA intended to open K-6 then add one grade level a year. Now the school plans to add seventh grade in its opening year, Francom said. That would increase the first-year maximum enrollment from 210 to 240 students.
Francom is in the process of getting the proposed change in front of the Idaho Public Charter School Commission, he said.
While the delays have been frustrating, Francom said there are benefits to the mill site. The 50,000-square foot building is really a shell, he said, which would allow for additional flexibility for design of classrooms and other school features.
It also would allow for a gymnasium, although Francom said additional fundraising might be necessary to finish the project.
He noted the building is close to 80 acres of land that could be developed into housing and commercial building in the near future.
“I think the community is really excited to see that get developed,” he said. “We’re hoping that we could be the kick- off for that.”
The location would be ideal for community events and potential partnerships with the fairgrounds or county parks and recreation.
“We want it to be a community space that people could access,” he said.
North Idaho Classical Academy is one of four schools supported by the non-profit, American Classical Schools of Idaho. Valor Academy in Kuna was approved by the charter commission last month and is also set to open in fall 2026.
All four schools that are part of ACSI use the Hillsdale Curriculum, a free curriculum created by a conservative Christian college of the same name in Michigan.
