HISTORY OF ALPINE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

Alpine Christian Academy was founded in 1989 by Pastor Bruce Porter of Alpine Christian Fellowship (church) and his wife, Claudia. The academy opened its doors in Basalt with a handful of students whose families sought a Christian educational setting for their children. ACA was set apart from other educational institutions in the Roaring Fork Valley by its commitment to “train our children in the way they should go so that when they are older, they will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) Guiding students to develop a godly character was as important to the founding families as it was to giving them the foundation to excel academically, athletically, and artistically.

The first classes were held in the basement of Alpine Christian Fellowship, but after only three weeks, Pitkin County forced the academy to relocate. The county charged that Alpine Christian Fellowship violated zoning regulations by not obtaining a special use permit. The county then rejected the church’s request for a special zoning review. Following the county ruling against the school, an Aspen newspaper headline glared, “Pitkin County 1, God 0.”

A seven-year legal battle ensued, with Alpine Christian Fellowship represented by the Rutherford Institute, an international nonprofit civil liberties organization specializing in the defense of religious liberty. (Alpine Christian Fellowship was the defendant, since the academy was a program under the auspices of this church.) During the lawsuit, Congress passed a new law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which allowed that a church’s ability to run a school outweighed local government zoning which prohibited that use. Pitkin County was forced to concede defeat and to pay Alpine Christian Fellowship $316,000 in legal fees and damages. In the end, God won.

In the time it took to resolve the case, the school was relocated five different times but was never in the church’s building. Student numbers grew and additional grades were added, until in 1998, the Board of Directors instituted a formal high school. Some of the monies awarded to Alpine Christian Fellowship via the lawsuit with Pitkin County were actually used to build a middle and high school building on another property in Basalt.

Initially affiliated with Alpine Christian Fellowship church, Alpine Christian Academy became a fully independent, Colorado nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation in 1995. Since its inception, ACA has grown from a “one-room schoolhouse setting” serving seven (7) students in kindergarten through third grade to its current status offering a complete preschool, primary and secondary educational program on a common campus. The academy celebrated its first high school graduation in May, 2002. Students from Aspen to Marble and Rifle have attended Alpine Christian Academy. Students and families of Alpine Christian Academy also represent 12 local churches throughout the community.