Each morning at Liberty Youth Academy a mix of kindergartners through sophomores gathers in a small classroom to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and do their devotionals.
Honoring the Holy Spirit and the Constitution are a daily practice for the faith-based, nonprofit private school.
But the group has had to improvise with the space in the Green Valley Village with the growing number of students — up from 50 last school year to about 75 this year.
Co-owner and teacher Braeden Hayes said they have used about every square foot and it’s time to provide a space that’s more kid-centric.
“We got into this building and we were thinking there was no way we were going to fill it in five years, and we did,” he said. “As a long-term solution, Green Valley mall is just not the best for kids.”
LYA, which opened in 2017, has found the solution to the space problem — a new school in Sahuarita. They 20 acres near the northeastern corner of La Cañada Boulevard and El Toro Road and are in the permitting process. They have dreams of interactive gardens, a track loop and an area for children to play.
But after being denied a Small Business Administration loan due to “being too religious,” Hayes said they are seeking support to help make their expansion a reality.
New school
Hayes said they have also purchased another 10 acres next to the school that in part will be used to build a home for himself and his family so they have somebody on-site.
Their plan is to set up two modular classroom buildings by fall. Hayes said they want to provide a tactile environment, full of textures, colors and natural landscape.
“Our vision for this is we want kids to learn the normal subjects but also want them to have exposure to gardening, learning about botany. There will be a spot where they can each have their own garden plot,” he said. “For cross country, I think we'll end up putting in a trail loop for them to go around and want to keep it fairly rough, which will be a lot of fun.”
In about a year, they will focus on additional buildings, a playing field and a courtyard.
“We need a place where kids can be busy,” he said. “We see it all the time, the kids who can't focus and don't know how to tell a creative story if it doesn't take place in a Minecraft world.”
“It’s destroying creativity and childhood, and there’s so much more than coming to school and going home.”
A parent created a digital rendering of the site, which may change slightly as they go through the permit process. Neighbors received notification of the conditional-use permit request about two weeks ago.
Cost, fundraising
The total project has a price tag of about $1.5 million, and LYA is counting on financial contributions to get there.
Hayes explained that over a year ago they applied for a loan from the Small Business Administration to help with the costs but that didn't pan out.
“We got prequalified for that and we were at the point where we were going to submit our loan package for final approval to the banks. We were already under contract to purchase the land, in the middle of development plans,” he said. “We’re kind of thinking we’re crossing the finish line and back in November when we went to submit the package, the SBA backed out and said, ‘So, you guys are too religious for us so we aren't going to do this.’”
Hayes said battling the SBA wasn’t the right option. They reorganized from for-profit status to nonprofit and are applying for tax-exempt status with the IRS.
“The plan is to finance the building costs, land purchase and construction through charitable contributions,” he said.
Tuition is $4,100 a year, and Hayes said increasing that wasn’t an option.
Why LYA
LYA teaches all classes through the perspective of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, formerly called the Mormon Church.
Hayes said they are trying to create an education closer to that of generations past, with an emphasis on the Constitution.
“Kids need an education where they are learning American history and learning our Constitution is good and the people who wrote it were imperfect people who were doing the best they could and created a system where we can improve our country and we have,” he said. “Unfortunately, schools even into the '70s have done a good job of not teaching the importance of the founding of our nation, and they've kicked God out of schools.”
Hayes said they teach all subjects in an environment that respects the faith of students and families.
“You can have faith and education,” he said. “You can have education that does not undermine your faith but supports it and i'm not one that would say we should try and force every child in America to be educated in a Christian education system but I do believe everyone has a right to an education that supports and builds their family's faith as opposed to undermines it.”
Parent Jamie Dole joined LYA this year with her daughter, who was diagnosed with a speech delay at 17 months old. She enrolled her in a small private preschool in Rancho Sahuarita.
“I remember once I learned she was thriving there, I thought there was a different way to do it,” she said. “At 3, she was accepted to the special education program through SUSD and we tried it. It was not a good fit.”
“I followed my mom gut and I pulled her out and put her back in the private at-home preschool.”
Then, COVID-19 hit and the preschool closed. That’s when she saw the ad for LYA.
“I messaged Braeden to ask if they were offering any in-person, and he said yes,” she said. “One of the things that really struck me was the small class sizes that were one-on-one. Because of her speech and language disorder she could not learn from somebody wearing a mask. She very much needs to watch a mouth.”
Dole said her daughter’s developmental physician just discharged them as patients and the 5 year old is thriving at LYA.
“For us, there's nothing wrong with public school,” she said. “I'm not going to say I had a bad experience but I just knew that wasn't our home. This feels like home here, and I feel so blessed we found it when we did.”
Dole said though she has had friends question her for choosing a religion based school, she’s never felt a sense of pressure from the school itself.
“You guys haven't pushed religion on my child, you've just embraced her faith, that's all,” she said.
The school’s roots are in Utah, where Hayes' mother, Stephanie Dale, started working for a private school in St. George called Zion Youth Academy. She eventually ran it.
Hayes, who was homeschooled, said once he and his wife, Bonnie, moved to Sahuarita, public school wasn’t right for their son.
“He did an ‘I love America camp’ at my mom’s school in St George — a fun three weeks with grandma — and he came back not only having learned some really cool things about our country's founding and our history but had some really cool experiences with God as well,” he said. “He came back from that and we said we need this for our kids. We need our kids to go to this school.”
Since they couldn’t move to St. George, they opened their own school.
“My wife Bonnie started it by herself, it grew to two classes the next year and I came over and left Raytheon and started full time the year after that,” he said.
What’s next?
Hayes said though they are awaiting their tax-exempt status, the IRS allows them to accept charitable contributions and treat them as tax exempt while the application is pending.
Though they are focusing on their new location in Sahuarita, they hope the LYA can serve as a model for other schools.
“There are other places that want to have a Liberty Youth Academy so in our fundraising we are trying to set up within ourselves a committee working together to raise funds across here and southern Utah to raise money for all expansion in the future," he said.
Those interested in donating or learning more about Liberty Youth Academy can visit libertyyouthacademy.org.