San Antonio is getting a public high school for 18- to 50-year-olds who want a second chance at earning a diploma.
This March, the state granted Restore Education, a local nonprofit focused on dropout recovery and job training, a charter license for an adult high school.
It took three different application cycles and a 500-page application for a green light, but now the nonprofit is getting ready to open Restore TECH Academy at its Eastside campus at 4603 E. Houston St.
Restore TECH offers paths toward finishing traditional high school diplomas, dual credit opportunities, job certifications and career and life coaching.
“This is what we do best in terms of knowing how to serve adults and what they need,” said Kelli Rhodes, president, CEO and cofounder of Restore Education.
Rhodes, along with her father John and her sister Kerri, founded Restore Education in 2008, helping 16- to 25-year-olds earn a GED, opening their inaugural San Pedro Avenue location.
In the 18 years since it first opened, the nonprofit has added a second location on the East Side and expanded into college prep, English learning, job training and certifications in more than 10 in-demand fields at no cost to students.
The group’s network grew too. Restore Education has several partners, including local industries, the Texas Workforce Commission, United Way, Ready to Work and the city’s Economic Development Department.
While Restore Education started off as a place for young adults to earn GEDs, college and career preparation was always the larger goal for the Rhodes family.
“This had always kind of been a dream of my dad’s,” said Kelli Rhodes.
Now, Restore Education is opening a full high school for adults.
The nonprofit’s history in the community is why Jeffrey Flores got on board as the founding superintendent and principal for Restore TECH.
“We’re building off of 18 years of success in adult education,” he said.
Flores has decades of public education experience and has founded charter schools in San Antonio before, but having the support of a well-established group like Restore Education and working with adults are firsts for him.
“When I saw the work being done at Restore… I saw my family, I saw cousins, I saw aunts, uncles who needed an opportunity that we could provide now for them,” he said.
Texas first authorized adult charter schools in 2013, but it wasn’t until 2023 that nonprofits like Restore Education could take a stab at applying for a license. They applied every year until TEA said yes.
Restore TECH Academy will be the first of its kind in San Antonio and the fifth in Texas.
Growing demand for adult education
While San Antonio already has alternative education schools for older, at-risk students who need flexibility, those programs usually only serve 16- to 24-year-olds.
Education resources for older adults are sparser and costlier, as demand for recovery and job training programs grow.
Between July of 2025 and June of this year, the nonprofit received over 6,000 applications, a number which has been growing each year since 2020. Several of Restore Education’s programs currently have long waitlists.
Flores and Rhodes say the charter school isn’t supposed to compete with Restore Education the nonprofit, school districts, or other programs in the region. But it will help alleviate some of the demand, and Restore Education is promoting the high school among its current participants said Rhodes.
“This is not a high school diploma versus a GED. It’s just another option,” added Flores.
Operating under a state charter also ensures that Restore Education, currently funded by state and federal grants, can keep providing adult education.
Last year, the Trump administration withheld $715 million in grants for GED classes, workforce training and English-as-a-second-language programs. While those dollars were eventually released, the administration’s proposed budget for next year would completely eliminate federal funding for adult education.
The funding turbulence wasn’t the sole reason for opening Restore TECH, said Kelli Rhodes, but operating as a charter protects some of the nonprofit’s programming in case of cuts at the federal level.
What does adult high school look like?
“We’re still a real public high school with state requirements, just for adults,” said Flores.
Because Restore TECH Academy will operate as any other public charter school, the school has to provide state-mandated services like emergent bilingual education, special education, Section 504 accommodations and dyslexia services.
Students are also expected to take the state’s end of course exams.
But Restore TECH can use a flexible schedule. The school’s hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. to noon on Fridays.
Most of the instruction will be in person through state-certified high school teachers. With the help of career and life coaches, students will create individual high school graduation plans to pick up where they left off.
There’s no set timeline on when Restore TECH could see its first graduate, but it may be as soon as this December, if a students only needed a few more credits to finish high school.
Like most public high schools these days, Restore TECH will also offer pathways in early college, industry-based certifications and career and technical education.
“They’ve been out of school for a very long time,” said Rhodes. “So we’re scaffolding these programs and really building in intense academic support, workforce readiness, and confidence building.”
With 400 available seats, Restore TECH is currently taking online applications on a rolling basis, using a lottery system like K-12 charter schools do.
Any person between the ages of 18 and 50 who never completed high school can apply. Students with GEDs can also apply, but those without diplomas will be prioritized.
The first day of school is Aug. 17.
