On March 25, the Campbell Union School District voted to register the Village School with the state of California as a school. Currently, it's classified as a program.

"The best part of this is that we won't just be seen an alternative education program anymore," Village School Principal Katie Middlebrook said. "We'll be seen as a school."

Village School was established in 1995 as a parent-participation program to give parents a wider range of education choices when selecting schools for their children, Campbell Union School District Superintendent Johanna VanderMolen said. The program is a kindergarten to fifth-grade institution, where parents, students and teachers collaborate to create a school community and family environment. Every family must help out on a regularly scheduled basis at least three hours per week per child, and all new parents are required to attend training in the fall.

The institution was modeled after Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in the Cupertino Union School District. It's funded through the state, but each family also pays a $200 participation fee, which goes toward field trips and classroom supplies.

Becoming officially recognized as a school was considered from the school's inception, VanderMolen said, but the governing board didn't take the official step until recently because it wanted to be sure Village School was going to be a success.

"We never felt the timing was right until now," VanderMolen said. "We wanted to be sure that if we started a new school, it would stay."

But after nine years, the governing board has become confident enough in Village School's staying power to make the move.

And parents are pleased.

"I'm glad the Campbell Union School District has a forward-thinking board that's looking for new and better ways to educate our kids," said Village School parent Steve Rapa. "So we're excited they're taking this pilot program they've been running for a few years and recognizing it as a real school."

The district's decision comes at a time when budgetary concerns have forced the closure of the Hazelwood campus on Waldo Avenue, with most of its students absorbed into nearby Capri School. Village School will be getting a new campus on the Capri site, so the total number of schools in the Campbell Union School District will remain the same.

The district, however, will still save money with Hazelwood's closure, Middlebrook said, as Village School is a cost-neutral program.

Although Village School's change of status will mostly be transparent to students and parents, Middlebrook said there will be subtle differences.

She said, "It will mean we'll be getting our own budget and we'll be in the paper when API scores come out."

API scores are widely publicized numbers that show schools' performances as compared with statewide standards. Previously, Village School's API scores were included in Hazelwood's overall score.

Although at the district level, Village School's numbers had been pulled out so the district could specifically study the performance of students in the program, there was never any official record of Village School scores, VanderMolen said.

"They were never able to say 'Our API is this or that,'" VanderMolen said. "Now they'll have the recognition. And they've been asking for this for a long time."