A growing Florida-based classical school may be setting a new standard for education throughout the nation.
Cornerstone Classical Academy (CCA) began building its next campus in Wildlight, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported July 27. Notably, CCA’s first tuition-free campus, based in Jacksonville, is set in 2027 to graduate its first senior class since it opened its doors in 2020.
“Cornerstone Classical Academy offers a traditional American education and was founded on the belief that civilizations endure only when one generation intentionally hands its inheritance to the next,” CCA founder and chair Lindsay Randall told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) in an interview.
Randall said the charter school already serves approximately 1,200 students and has a waitlist of more than 1,000.
“CCA emphasizes the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty through a rich curriculum rooted in history, literature, science, mathematics, and the arts,” Randall said. “Students study the best ideas and books that have shaped Western civilization. They are taught not only what to think, but how to think. This enables them to develop critical reasoning, strong communication skills, and intellectual curiosity.”
Randall also told the DCNF that CCA has earned an “A” grade from the State of Florida and 97% of its students scored at or above grade-level on the state’s Civics End-of-Course exam. Furthermore, 85% of the school’s third-grade students are reading at or above their grade level and 94% of sixth-grade students “met or exceeded” grade-level expectations in math.
Meanwhile, other K-12 public schools across the nation are facing declining student outcomes. Approximately 33% of American fourth graders and eighth graders “likely could not identify basic literary elements in a text such as the order of events, character traits, and main idea,” according to the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP)’s 2024 report. Additionally, the NAEP reported that 8th-graders’ math scores stagnated since their 8-point drop in 2022.
“The demand for classical education continues to grow,” Randall said. “Cornerstone has maintained a significant waitlist with little to no traditional advertising, demonstrating that families are actively seeking schools that emphasize academic excellence, character formation, and a rich understanding of our cultural inheritance.”
Randall said that, while CCA’s Wildlight campus is expected to enroll 800 students in its first year, this is just the beginning.
“Through the work of the Cornerstone Classical Foundation, we also hope to support the growth of high-quality classical schools across Florida and beyond,” Randall said. “Our vision is simple: We are training the next generation of patriots to save the country.”
During the 2023-24 school year, 677,521 PK-12 students were enrolled in classical schools, according to a March 2024 analysis by Arcadia Education.
CCA also competes in each of the Florida High School Athletics Association (FHSAA)’s sports, where it has maintained its “1A classification” since being admitted to FHSAA in 2025, Randall told the DCNF.
“[N]o student should have to choose between a rigorous classical education and the opportunity to excel in athletics, the arts, or any other pursuit. At Cornerstone, we want to be an ‘everything school’ and are committed to ensuring that our students are not limited by their choice of school, but empowered by it,” Randall said.
Randall told the DCNF that she believes a “free society can only endure when it is sustained by knowledgeable, virtuous, and free-thinking citizens” when asked what inspired her to start CCA.
“When my daughters were young, I realized there wasn’t a public or private school in Jacksonville that fully reflected the kind of education and values I wanted for them,” Randall said. “I wanted a school that pursued academic excellence, cultivated virtue, and inspired students with the timeless ideas, literature, and history that have shaped our civilization. So, I decided to start a school that I wished existed-not only for my own daughters, but for hundreds of other families seeking the same thing.”
(DCNF)