Aspire Capitol Heights Academy

In 1998, longtime public school educator Don Shalvey joined forces with Silicon Valley entrepreneur Reed Hastings to launch Aspire Public Schools, one of the nation’s first charter management organizations. The mission they set out to achieve was simple and straightforward: grow the public charter school movement by opening and operating small, high-quality charter schools in low-income neighborhoods…and prepare these students for college.

The Central Valley Region has 14 schools in the communities of Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, and Ceres. The Central Valley was Aspire’s first region, with University Charter School (Modesto) and Vincent Shalvey Academy (Stockton) opening in 1999. Our most recent addition to the region was the opening of Aspire Benjamin Holt Middle School in 2016. We currently serve over 5,800 students across the region.