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Today in central Texas there is a charter school network dedicated to providing students with a rigorous and well-rounded education that emphasizes the development of both intellectual and character excellence. Founded in 2016, nonprofit Valor Education aims to cultivate wisdom, virtue, and leadership in their students through a curriculum rooted in the classical liberal arts tradition. This holistic education prepares students to thrive in college and beyond while also fostering a lifelong love of learning.
Since the opening of its first K-2 school, Valor South Austin, in 2018, Valor Education has seen significant growth and enrollment demand. Building Hope connected with Valor Education from the very beginning as the network began to grow and in 2019 the network brought Building Hope on board to support the network’s aggressive growth plans which include a goal to grow to 6,050 students by 2027. Since then, Building Hope has been a long-term partner to Valor Education as it has opened four additional schools: Valor North Austin, Valor Kyle, Valor Leander, and Valor San Antonio.
Building Hope, with its deep experience in charter school development, from site selection and construction to financing and comprehensive project management, was a natural choice for Valor Education. Equally important for Valor Education was finding a trusted partner that would be nimble enough to handle complex situations that arose and solve for them seamlessly with little or no impact to the development timeline and budget. Having a seasoned and dedicated set of boots on the ground in Texas for each project was also critical. Valor Education found all of this and more in Building Hope’s Director of Real Estate Brady Hutchins, who relocated from Idaho to Texas to personally oversee each school project.
Over the course of the five-year relationship Building Hope has had with Valor Education, each school project has required a custom and strategic approach to project management as well as a diverse set of services and skills from Hutchins and the Building Hope team. From assistance with site selection and navigating zoning and infrastructure requirements to serving as the school representative for the design and construction phases and helping secure the necessary financing, Building Hope has proven itself to be a nimble, flexible partner that thrives on finding actionable solutions for clients. No project is too complex to take on.
Valor Education projects that demonstrate Building Hope’s strategic planning skills, adaptability, and flexibility include:
When Hutchins joined Building Hope in 2020, he jumped right onto the Valor North Austin project and has managed several enhancements and renovations. Most recently, he has been responsible for a $27 million expansion that opened in time for the academic year 2024-2025. The expansion will benefit more than 1,200 students in Kindergarten through Grade 12 by 2029 with a 52,000 square-foot facility on its existing five-acre site. This project was unique and complex, in that the project had specific design requirements that allowed the school to overcome the constraints of its physical property lines and use vertical space more efficiently.
The three-story expansion seamlessly integrates with the existing campus and features a gymnasium with a stage and concession area built on stilts above a ground-level green space for soccer and other sports, a flexible black box theatre space, a library, a larger playground, a courtyard, an open-air gym, an expanded faculty commons space, Upper School art and music rooms, a weight room, science labs and classrooms, seminar rooms, an intervention classroom, and additional general use Upper School classrooms. Additionally, the outdoor environment has been significantly enhanced with new green spaces, fresh landscaping, a school garden, and areas for active play, creating a vibrant and dynamic campus atmosphere.
The completion of the Valor North Expansion Project is a testament to the power of long-term partnership, trust, and a shared vision for educational excellence," said Hutchins.
With a wait list of 1,000 students and growing, the Valor South Austin campus quickly outgrew its capacity. The school needed to find an alternative site to accommodate planned growth, one that was easily accessible to 800 current Kindergarten through Grade 12 students AND that allowed for future enrollment growth. The Building Hope team identified a new, 25-acre site and facilitated a development deal in which Building Hope purchased the land for Valor Education and covered the cost for site purchase, due diligence, and building design. Once Valor Education received bond funding, it bought out Building Hope and took ownership of the building outright.
The new, 110,000 square-foot site, opening in fall 2024, is located in one of the fastest growing areas of Austin, yet is also one of the most difficult places to develop due to environmental restrictions, including restricted water quality zones. Hutchins’ experience in managing client and community expectations and navigating such restrictions has made it possible for Valor South Austin to welcome 1,450 new students in grades Kindergarten through Grade 12, which nearly doubles the enrollment capacity.
For each Valor Education project, there’s a lot of thought put into the uniqueness of each school, the aesthetics, and the emotional connection the staff, students, and communities have with the schools,” continued Hutchins.
Flooding is a significant concern in Central Texas, where residential areas often struggle with stormwater runoff from streets, driveways, walkways, and roofs. For Valor Kyle in Kyle, TX, Building Hope played a crucial role as the project manager for a new Kindergarten through Grade 12 school which serves nearly 800 students. In 2021, Building Hope worked with key stakeholders to integrate a retention pond into the design and construction of the new 67,000 square-foot facility. This strategically placed pond is designed to capture and manage rain runoff, effectively reducing the risk of flooding and providing a safer environment for the school community. Additionally, Building Hope supported the project with a $16.5M loan to Valor Education to cover the purchase of land and the ground up construction.
"When a school I’ve worked on opens and I witness everything coming together, it feels incredibly rewarding,” remarked Hutchins. Seeing the excitement of the students and staff in their new building always energizes me. I always make it a point to be there on the first day of school to experience that special moment firsthand.”
Building Hope believes that creating thriving educational environments requires a collaborative approach. That belief drives our decision to collaborate closely with schools and the key stakeholders that can design and build new academic buildings – invaluable partners such as architects and construction experts with a passion for delivering excellence and meeting the needs of their clients, even when the project is complex and involves approaching challenges with a creative and nimble mindset.
Offering a long-term commitment to the projects envisioned by Valor Education were an architecture firm and two general contractors with deep roots in Texas and K-12 education: Haddon+Cowan Architects, Bartlett Cocke and American Constructors. Haddon+Cowan Architects brought their wealth of expertise in innovative design and their visionary approach and commitment to educational excellence to help shape the buildings and elevate the learning experience across all five campuses. The two general contractors played a crucial role in turning the design vision into reality, with a commitment to precision, quality, safety, and sustainability. The teams from these three companies earned the trust of Valor Education and Building Hope for their ability to navigate the challenges of construction in central Texas while maintaining efficiency, cost effectiveness, and the highest standards.
Critical to creating the collaborative glue between Valor Education and the architecture and construction partners has been Brady Hutchins, Building Hope’s Director of Real Estate. Hutchins has deep roots in building charter schools, having completed the construction of five schools in three years before leaving Idaho to join Building Hope and Valor Education in Texas in 2020. In his four years with Building Hope, he has finished X school projects and has Y more planned for 2025. His on-site and consistent presence ensures seamless communication, immediate issue resolution, and high-quality standards. Hutchins is not just the backbone of the Valor Education projects; his thoughtful, creative, and hard-working approach fosters strong relationships among all stakeholders. By transforming complex construction projects into smoothly managed endeavors, he and Building Hope together foster trust and strengthen the collaborative bonds that are essential for long-term success and positive outcomes in the charter school community.
The successful completion of Valor Education’s X school projects since 2019 not only highlights the exceptional management and problem-solving skills of and the combined Valor/Building Hope team, but also underscores the deep trust and collaborative spirit that have developed over the past five years. It is this type of partnership that is the most fulfilling because it brings the school’s mission to life to make an even greater impact on students and the community. Ultimately, this is so much more than building a building. This collaboration is about two organizations working together to make quality and accessible education affordable for all students in central Texas.
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