Veritas Academy buys 97 acres in Southwest Austin for new school

The school signed a contract to purchase the property from Standard Pacific Homes for an undisclosed sum before Christmas, he said.

Fowler said Escarpment Boulevard is going to be extended, and the new campus will be located at the road's new ending.

"We hope to be on that property a year from now in the spring of the 2013–14 school year," he said, adding that the school may have to transition in phases.

The school had assumed that the deal would go through and assembled a facilities team at the beginning of the fall semester.

Fowler said the school informed students and families of the successful purchase on New Year's Eve.

"There were a lot of hallelujahs," he said. "We've been very transparent with the community. It's been a long ride with a lot of ups and downs. It's been a great experience for all of us."

Veritas Academy had been searching for a site for its new campus for more than five years. In that time, it considered sites as far west as RR 12 in Dripping Springs and as far east as I-35, he said.

"Very few parcels were large enough to accommodate all of the impervious cover we would eventually need," he said.

The school is located on the campus of First Evangelical Free Church, 4220 Monterey Oaks Blvd.

Fowler said the prekindergarten through 12th grade school blends Christian eduction with a classical model, emphasizing grammar, logic and rhetoric.

The school attracts students from Travis, Bastrop and Hays counties and educates just under 500 students, Fowler said.