Give Sacramento’s Capitol Heights students the opportunity they deserve | Opinion
Capitol Heights Academy in Sacramento has been more than a school to its more than 200 students; it has been a place where educators step in early, refuse to give up on students, and provide stability and opportunity for families who are too often underserved.
We were disappointed when the Sacramento City Unified School District voted to deny our charter renewal on Nov. 6, 2025.
Capitol Heights has a 20-year history in the Sacramento community and has earned honors as a California Distinguished School, a National Blue Ribbon School and The Sacramento Bee’s Charter School of the Year in 2023. Families choose the school for its strong academics and supportive environment for students facing systemic barriers.
Like many schools across Sacramento and California, Capitol Heights was hit hard by a perfect storm beginning in the late 2010s with rising housing costs displacing neighborhood families, increased competition for enrollment and then the COVID pandemic. A school relocation and grade expansion during the pandemic compounded those challenges. The result was learning loss, enrollment decline and instability.
We do not deny these challenges. What matters now is what we are doing to turn the school around.
Under new, stable leadership, instructional systems are being strengthened and a focused improvement plan is actively guiding our work. We are implementing it with urgency, transparency and accountability. Early indicators show progress, and the foundation for sustainable improvement is being rebuilt.
On California’s latest 2025 dashboard, Aspire Capitol Heights posted double-digit gains in both English Language Arts and math, outpacing state growth. Nearly 90% of students met or nearly met Typical Growth in reading, and more than 80% in math. Suspensions dropped 5.9% year over year, and district staff described the school climate as “palpably improved.”
The results show tremendous progress — especially when you consider who the school serves. More than 60% of Capitol Heights students are African American and 25% are Hispanic/Latino.
The Sacramento County Office of Education’s own 2025 Landscape Analysis makes clear that Black students face the largest opportunity gaps in our region. Capitol Heights’ improvement shows what is possible when schools focus on strong relationships, culturally responsive teaching and targeted academic support.
No one at Aspire Public Schools is claiming the work is finished. It isn’t. We acknowledge that the school has not yet returned to the level of excellence we expect.
That is exactly why we adopted a detailed, evidence-based improvement plan that includes intensive tutoring; small-group instruction aligned to student data; teacher coaching; expanded arts and science, technology, engineering and math opportunities; and a renewed focus on foundational literacy and restorative practices.
District staff reviewed this plan and concluded that it addressed the root causes of past challenges and that school leadership has the capacity to carry it out. They recommended a two-year renewal, so the school could complete its turnaround.
Despite that plan, the Sacramento City Unified School District’s board decision to deny Capitol Heights Academy’s charter renewal petition was based on procedural inconsistencies, incomplete use of academic data and financial findings that ignored the Aspire organization’s fiscal support structure and instead indexed on the dire financial conditions at the school district.
State law is clear: a district’s fiscal impact is not a lawful reason to deny a charter renewal. So when a school serving high-need students shows measurable improvement, addresses past issues and executes an effective, working plan, on what grounds should it be denied renewal?
We are currently appealing to the Sacramento County Office of Education to renew our charter. We urge our community, policymakers and all advocates for educational equity to support this renewal.
Anthony Solina is the executive director of Aspire Central Valley.