Who we are
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Founded in 2014, Renaissance Academy Charter School of the Arts was created with the vision of providing a free quality, arts-integrated education to students from the city of Rochester and across Monroe County.
Renaissance Academy delivers a wholistic, arts-integrated education. Our passionate team empowers children to excel academically, embrace creativity, and thrive socially and emotionally.
We are committed to excellence, innovation and equity, as we relentlessly pursue cultural sustainability.
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STUDENT CENTERED
CULTURALLY RELEVANT
COLLABORATIVE
CREATIVE
INCLUSIVE
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Our goal at RA is to help create pathways and opportunities for our students to break generational cycles of poverty.
The internal question “What is best for our kids?” consistently forms the basis for individualized foundations for success.
92%
Daily student attendance rate
3x
higher student ELA and Math proficiency than district peers
87%
Teacher Retention rate
I see how the work RA does improves Rochester by strengthening education and giving students opportunities that can break the cycle of poverty they might otherwise be stuck in.
-Community Organizer
RA gives students a warm, safe, and welcoming place, surrounded by people who truly value their role in shaping young minds.
-Corporate Sponsor
Our students
Our students are brilliant, creative, hardworking young people who come from primarily underserved and underrepresented communities.
92% of our students live below the poverty line.
1 in 14 students experience homelessness.
Over 100 students receive in-school therapy to help support their mental health needs.
With the help of our generous community, private donors, and sponsors we have built a robust support system for our students.
Programs and services like the ones below ensure that our students are ready and able to learn and grow when they walk through our doors each morning.
Funding inequity
At Renaissance Academy, we are committed to operating with fiscal responsibility and efficiency. We educate each student at a cost of $17,272—less than half of the funding spent per pupil in the Rochester City School District. While this figure reflects only direct student expenses, the gap between per-pupil revenue and per-pupil expenditure is often used to cover broader administrative and operational costs.
At RA, we run a lean, agile operation where every dollar is stretched to support our students directly, and it shows. Our students consistently receive a high-quality, well-rounded education and significantly outperform their peers at their home district schools.
Because charter schools like RA do not receive the same level of public funding and receive no support for facilities, we rely on local contributions to fill critical gaps. Each year, we must seek additional funding to sustain essential programs such as teacher professional development, social-emotional and family support services, summer learning opportunities, and before-school programming, resources that would otherwise be supported by full and equitable state funding our students deserve.
