Clarification About Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools of Colorado
The Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools of Colorado are not affiliated with or managed by Ascent Classical Academies, an organization that as of October 2025, was associated with a public school in Fort Mill, South Carolina. These are two entirely separate and independent organizations.
- Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools, Inc. (ACACS) is a network of public charter schools in Colorado. Learn more at www.ascentcolorado.org.
- Ascent Classical Academies (ACA) is a private management organization that from January 2024 through at least October 2025 at the time of this writing, did not operate or manage any schools in Colorado. Learn more at www.ascentclassical.org.
ACACS formerly partnered with ACA under a management agreement but notified ACA in October 2023 that ACACS considered that agreement terminated effective December 25, 2023. ACA sued ACACS in federal court making claims under both state and federal law. The federal court dismissed all of ACA’s claims in March 2025. ACA has appealed the dismissal. ACACS does not expect the appeal to succeed. Some court filings and rulings are available below for public review.
Summary of ACACS’s Counterclaims
In the lawsuit that was dismissed, Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools, Inc. (Ascent Colorado) asserted specific counterclaims against Ascent Classical Academies, which can be read in full in the document titled Answer and Counterclaims. The following are verbatim excerpts from that filing beginning with paragraph 66 and 67 on page 35-36, and following with earlier, more detailed paragraphs:
Direct Excerpts from the Counterclaims
66. “ACA breached the management agreements by failing to follow ACACS board directives; secure facilities in a proper and timely manner; provide a suitable workplace for the employees which caused turmoil and turnover; transfer funds, information, and systems to ACACS as part of the transition; honor the Hillsdale MOU; and return or transfer funds and other assets it was not entitled to.”
67. “ACA’s breaches damaged ACACS by adversely affecting the quality of the educational services at the schools, causing it to spend unnecessary funds, retaining ACACS funds, harming its reputation, and failing to provide the services promised under the Management Agreements.”
43. “For the first several years, both ACACS and ACA wanted to closely affiliate with Hillsdale College.”
44. “However, beginning in about February 2023, ACA and its founder, Derec Shuler, came to believe that Hillsdale and its CMO, American Classical Education, were competitors in the charter school management market.”
45. “Mr. Shuler resented the competition because he wanted to expand ACA into other states.”
46. “ACACS, on the other hand, desired to have its four schools remain in close partnership with Hillsdale.”
47. “The Douglas County Management Agreement specifically provides that the Douglas County school will ‘at all times during the term of this Agreement remain in compliance with the obligations of the Hillsdale College Memorandum of Understanding.’”
48. “However, ACA’s conduct, and specifically that of Mr. Shuler, violated this provision by taking steps antithetical to the Hillsdale MOU, which resulted in the relationship with Hillsdale deteriorating.”
56. “The Daniels Fund awarded a grant for the expansion of the schools in Douglas County and Northern Colorado.”
57. “The grant funds were diverted into the control of ACA because, at the time, the parties were cooperating pursuant to the terms of the Management Agreement.”
58. “Representatives from the Daniels Funds have repeatedly insisted that the grants were for the benefit of the ACACS schools in Douglas County and Northern Colorado.”
59. “Despite the clarity on this point, ACA refuses to provide these grant funds to ACACS.”
62. “ACA … failed to cooperate with [the post-termination] transition and, at times, actively hindered it by refusing to provide information and/or access to systems which ACA no longer had any right or need to possess and ACACS needed to operate its schools.”
68. At present, it is estimated that ACA’s breaches have caused damage to ACACS in the amount of $258,089.97.
69. Under Article XII.1 of the management agreements, ACACS is entitled to its reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs related to this litigation..
Court Status
On March 4, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (federal court) entered a Final Judgment in favor of Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools, Inc. and against Ascent Classical Academies, dismissing ACA’s federal claims in their entirety and declining to exercise jurisdiction over the state law claims. ACA has appealed dismissal of the federal claims and has not filed the state claims in state court.