Good afternoon, CharterFolk.
Today we are pleased to share a Contributor Column from Sarah Meskin, director of communications for Bluum in Boise, Idaho.
We provide a bio for Sarah below.
Sarah Meskin serves as the Director of Communications for Bluum. Born and raised in Danville, California, she spent several years volunteering for different educational nonprofits through the National Charity League. She earned her B.S. in Business Administration Management along with double minors in Nonprofit Management and Human Resources at Boise State University. During her time at Boise State, she worked for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and served as the Vice President of Community Relations for Tri Delta. Sarah spent a few years as an assistant teacher at a Montessori in Boise, which is where she first began to deeply understand and love the idea of school choice in the Gem State.
A Decade of Growth: Bluum’s Impact on Idaho’s Public Charter Sector
When Bluum launched in 2015 with the goal of creating 20,000 new school seats in 10 years. Ten years on that goal has largely been achieved. Now, as Bluum celebrates its 10th anniversary, the organization has invested more than $100 million in Idaho’s public charter schools—helping establish and strengthen over 45 schools statewide. Those numbers matter. They show scale, growth, and momentum. But they don’t tell the whole story.
Bluum has spent years studying what works, and even more time spent confronting what doesn’t. Challenges are constant and ever evolving:
- Recruiting and retaining top-tier leaders and teachers, especially in rural communities.
- Managing the rising costs of facilities when financing is already a hurdle to begin with.
- Ensuring that schools don’t just open, but thrive.
- Protecting culture, mission, and focus in a rapidly changing education landscape.
- Knowing when to say “no”, and more importantly, sticking to it.
Luck and timing have also played a large role, but neither would have been enough without the excellent partners who’ve walked alongside Bluum.
From day one, the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation has been more than a funder. It has been an excellent strategic partner, mentor, and example – modeling commitment, clarity of purpose, and boldness. Without its strong vision and belief in this kind of work, Bluum would not be here. Nor would the growing collection of high performing and innovative schools mapped out below.
Throughout the years, Idaho itself has been growing. Families are moving here and communities are expanding, creating new possibilities. The state’s cultural and political embrace of school choice has also given Bluum and its partner schools room to innovate.
Support from lawmakers has been consistent and bipartisan. Governors, legislators, and the congressional delegation have generally backed public charter schools as part of Idaho’s education fabric. Local developers have donated land and steel. National partners have brought expertise. Parents and community members have lent time and credibility. This work has never been about one organization. It’s about a network of people and institutions pulling in the same direction.
Of course, mistakes have been made. Early on, Bluum expected national charter networks to set up shop in Idaho, but again and again, they said the numbers didn’t work. Idaho’s per-student funding was too low, the market too small. It was a hard truth. But it forced a pivot. Bluum quickly stopped waiting for outside help and started growing its own talent. They invested in Idahoans with vision and grit, who could lead schools rooted in their communities. That shift became one of Bluum’s greatest strengths.
Today, Idaho-grown leaders are building Idaho-grown schools – and they’re excelling. National research has since shown that single-state charter networks often outperform multi-state ones. That’s been the experience here, too.
Facilities remain one of the toughest challenges. It’s hard enough to build a school in Boise or Nampa; try doing it in an even more remote community like Salmon or Island Park. Traditional lenders hesitate. Costs climb. Temporary spaces stretch beyond their limits. Bluum and its partners like Building Hope have stepped in to help schools secure financing – through federal grants, philanthropic dollars, and other creative solutions such as the revolving loan fund. These efforts have turned visions into buildings. In rural communities, those buildings don’t just house learning. They send a message: We’re here to stay.
Leadership has been another pillar. Great schools rise and fall with their leaders. That’s why Bluum invested in fellowships and mentorship, giving leaders not just a vision for teaching but also the tools to navigate finance, governance, and community trust. Dozens of fellows have become principals and directors, shaping schools that reflect their communities and deliver results for students. Joe Albertson “believed in the importance of leadership and results.” These two ideas flow through everything that Bluum does.
And the results truly do matter. Bluum-supported schools serve nearly 20,000 students across the Gem State. If all the Bluum-supported schools formed their own district, it would be one of the top-performing districts in the country. Parents who once had no choices now have schools where their children are not only catching up but also excelling.
Still, the work is far from finished. Transportation costs burden rural schools. Recruiting teachers remains tough. Facilities are still a heavy lift. And every year brings new pressures – economic, political, cultural. Complacency is the enemy. Settling for “good enough” is never an option.
Looking back, Bluum’s first decade has a clear throughline: quality matters. Access alone is not enough. Families deserve schools that are not just different but better. That belief has guided Bluum through every investment, every partnership, every pivot.
Looking forward, the work only grows harder. Idaho is changing. Expectations are higher. Families want more. Bluum as an organization owes it to them to keep building, keep learning, keep striving.
Bluum has beaten the odds of surviving a decade. Nationally, 65% of start-ups fail within their first ten years. But survival isn’t the point. The point is to build something that lasts, something that matters: to give Idaho families schools that truly serve their children.
That’s the story of Bluum at ten years. Not perfect, not finished, but still here. Still growing and still believing in what’s possible.
Read more about Bluum’s 10-year anniversary.