by Staff Reporter | Feb 5, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona State Board of Education (ASBE) released an improved grade for the state’s largest charter school operator.
Last month, ASBE awarded Primavera Online School a letter grade of “B” for the 2024-2025 school year.
The threat of closure of the state’s largest charter school operator attracted the attention of President Donald Trump allies and school choice advocates.
The corrected grading follows nearly a year of efforts by the charter school to overturn a charter revocation from the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools (ASBCS).
In a statement, Primavera Online School stated that ASBE’s latest determination validated their year-long defense of their performance.
“These findings confirm that Primavera’s academic performance has always been within the state’s definition of a performing school and is currently a highly performing school, consistent with its long-standing mission of serving at-risk and non-traditional students across Arizona,” said the school in a press release.
School choice proponents petitioned Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne to intervene in the threat against Primavera Online School.
However, Horne clarified last spring that he had no power or influence over charter school revocation decisions, even with having a seat on ASBCS.
“The legislature chose to divide jurisdiction regarding charter schools between the Arizona Department of Education and the Charter Board. The current issue is within the jurisdiction of the Charter Board. I have no power or influence over that. If I were to try to influence it, the Charter Board would resent the trespass on their turf, and it would do more harm than good,” said Horne at the time. “There is likely to be an appeal to an administrative law judge, and the school needs to marshal its evidence to present to the administrative law judge. If I am asked for any data or other information that the department has, I will of course immediately provide it regardless of which side requests it.”
Without intervention, ASBCS revoked Primavera Online School’s charter last summer.
Primavera Online School leadership publicly fought the revocation, accusing ASBCS of incorrectly redesignating their school as traditional rather than its historical designation as alternative.
The school did receive approval for alternative status for the 2025 fiscal year, and its application for the 2026 fiscal year was pending before the Arizona Department of Education at the time of the revocation.
Its founder and CEO, Damian Creamer, failed to convince ASBCS that they had improperly redesignated his school.
The board cited three years of low academic results as the basis for its decision.
However, a retrospective review by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) recently conducted focusing on the online charter school’s academic standing over the three scrutinized school years (2022, 2023, and 2024) determined that the charter school would have warranted a passing grade of “at least C” under an alternative school status.
Primavera Online School was founded in 2001 to assist students with a high risk of not graduating from conventional schools. Since opening, the school has had over 250,000 students. Approximately 8,000 students attend the school annually.
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by Staff Reporter | Jun 9, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools (ASBCS) revoked the charter for Primavera Online School, potentially affecting over 20,000 students enrolled.
ASBCS cited low academic results these past three years as the basis for their decision, unanimously made during Tuesday’s meeting.
Primavera’s founder and CEO, Damian Creamer, maintains ASBCS incorrectly redesignated Primavera in recent years as a traditional school rather than its historical designation as an alternative school. Grading as a traditional school resulted in Primavera receiving failing grades — rather than the adjusted passing grades Primavera would have gotten had it continued its designation as an alternative school.
Alternative schools serve at-risk students, a status requiring annual application.
ASBCS did acknowledge that Primavera could be classified as an alternative school. However, it was also discussed how Primavera officials hadn’t contacted state officials about its redesignation as a traditional school, let alone about the poor grades.
Creamer had this to say in response to ASBCS’s decision:
The Arizona State Charter School Board’s decision to uphold its plan to revoke Primavera’s charter is a grave injustice and a tremendous disservice to all of Arizona’s students, parents, and teachers. This reckless action threatens to dismantle a vital educational institution that has faithfully served our community, providing innovative, accessible, and high-quality education to hundreds of thousands of students since our inception. We are appalled that the Board denied our legal counsel an opportunity to address the allegations made or to address the multitude of factual inaccuracies on which the board members specifically said they were acting. They did not want to hear anything that was contrary to the factually incorrect narrative they created. This blatant disregard for due process is not only unfair but undermines the principles of transparency and accountability that the Board claims to uphold. The assumptions and conclusions reached by the Board are based on factually untrue and materially false information. These were obvious misrepresentations rather than data driven evidence. Primavera will not stand idly by while the educational futures of our students are jeopardized. We are prepared to take all necessary action to challenge this decision and protect the rights of our students, parents, and educators. The Board’s actions will not go unanswered, and we will fight tirelessly to ensure that Arizona families continue to have access to the exceptional education Primavera provides.
The state’s chief educational authority says he was powerless to stop the revocation process. Back in March, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said he lacked authority to meddle with the ASBCS decision in response to appeals to intervene from the charter giant and its allies. Horne said Primavera would have to appeal and present evidence to an administrative law judge as their next steps. Primavera has hearings on the matter scheduled for September.
“The legislature chose to divide jurisdiction regarding charter schools between the Arizona Department of Education and the Charter Board,” said Horne. “The current issue is within the jurisdiction of the Charter Board. I have no power or influence over that. If I were to try to influence it, the Charter Board would resent the trespass on their turf, and it would do more harm than good.”
Horne also issued a statement supporting the ASBCS decision to seek charter revocation.
Primavera did receive approval for alternative status for the 2025 fiscal year, and has its application for alternative status for the 2026 fiscal year pending before the Arizona Department of Education.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Mar 28, 2025 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and the Radical Left have made it clear that they want to dismantle school choice in our state. Despite getting trounced in November’s election where teachers’ unions and other anti-school choice groups made it a referendum on educational freedom, Hobbs has doubled down on her same tired and out-of-touch efforts since the start of this year.
Once again, it hasn’t worked. Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program continues to grow—with enrollment now over 87,000 students. So, Hobbs and her buddies in the teachers’ unions have resorted to employing one of their favorite tricks: relying on activist reporters in the corporate media to give their anti-school choice messaging an extra boost.
In early March, a coordinated attack was launched against Primavera, an online charter school serving thousands of K-12 students across the state. It began with a story from Craig Harris, a Red4ED activist that calls himself a reporter, who claimed that Primavera received a ‘D’ letter grade from the Arizona Department of Education for the past three years. According to the report, the school failed to meet the minimum academic requirements for a traditional charter school. Harris’ column then went on to complain about the owner of Primavera and how much money he has made while operating the school.
After the story was published, the Arizona Charter School Board convened a hearing to review the allegations against Primavera. In a span of just a few hours, the board imposed the most severe punishment at their disposal, revoking the schools’ charter and setting them up for eventual closure. In effect, Primavera was given the charter school death penalty after one meeting.
On the surface, this might make sense. After all, if a school is failing its students, it deserves proper accountability. But as so often happens with today’s corporate media, an important fact was omitted from this manufactured takedown…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Matthew Holloway | Mar 22, 2025 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne released a statement this week regarding the Primavera Online charter school, Arizona’s largest charter school operator. Primavera is facing revocation of its charter from the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools due to low academic results.
Responding to calls for him to intervene, Horne, who holds a seat on the board, stated, “I have no power or influence over that.” In his statement responding to calls to stop the revocation from Attorney Jesse Binnall, who represents Primavera, Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, Horne explained that the role of regulating charter schools is divided in Arizona between the Arizona Department of Education and the Board for Charter Schools.
Horne stated, “The legislature chose to divide jurisdiction regarding charter schools between the Arizona Department of Education and the Charter Board. The current issue is within the jurisdiction of the Charter Board. I have no power or influence over that. If I were to try to influence it, the Charter Board would resent the trespass on their turf, and it would do more harm than good. There is likely to be an appeal to an administrative law judge, and the school needs to marshal its evidence to present to the administrative law judge. If I am asked for any data or other information that the department has, I will of course immediately provide it regardless of which side requests it.”
Speaking at a press conference in front of the Capitol, Binnall, who formerly worked on President Donald Trump’s legal team, compared the potential closure of Primavera to lawfare designed to stifle school choice. He said, “The voters of this country have spoken loud and clear … that President Trump’s agenda, which includes school choice, is highly favored by the voters. Instead of getting on board with this policy, you have some people that are trying to use various versions of lawfare … in order to get in the way of school choice.”
“We have to be confident that these people who serve … the people of Arizona are going to do the right thing for the children of Arizona,” he continued. “The right thing for the children of Arizona … is to help organizations like Primavera be more successful, not try to take away school choice.”
Primavera holds a designation as an alternative school owing to its focus on providing an education to at-risk students. In a board meeting on March 4th, Primavera Online founder and CEO Damian Creamer said that the school was incorrectly designated while he was on leave caring for his ailing wife and was graded as if it were a traditional school. Officials from Primavera argued that the school would’ve received a passing “C” grade if it had been properly designated.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
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