[3] The proposal won support from mayor James Scheibel, several neighborhood parents, and Northern States Power Company.

Northern States Power eventually donated computers to the school and provided $30,000 in startup money.

The school received about $120,000 in state education funding, the remainder coming from fundraising efforts.

Plans are for the year-round school to open in August, said Milo Cutter, Power League director.

City Academy has been sponsored by the College of St. Catherine in Saint Paul since the 1999–2000 school year.

This national nonprofit organization supports 200 local programs that help young people work toward their high school diplomas while learning construction skills by building affordable housing for low-income and homeless people.

[11] Students are given the home phone numbers of teachers and encouraged to call them for help after regular school hours.

[12] In the sponsorship charter with the College of St. Catherine, City Academy's "...target population [is] primarily 15–21 year old students who are currently unenrolled, underprepared, and at risk for dropping out.

Passing BSTs in Writing, Math, and Reading are required to graduate from high school in Minnesota.

City Academy has been visited by U.S. President Bill Clinton, U.S. Department of Education secretary Richard Riley, and current U.S. senator and then-presidential candidate John Kerry.

[17][18] In 1999, Milo Cutter, one of the founders of City Academy, was named by Teacher Magazine as one of the ten people who shaped education in the 1990s.

Teacher Magazine credited Cutter's work with City Academy with helping launch the charter school movement nationwide.