Brevard County Schools is considering forming a task force to help it parse out all the different requests it’s getting from charter schools to co-locate in its schools.
The district is one of a handful in Central Florida who have received dozens of requests from School of Hope operators for charter schools to co-locate in public schools.
But Brevard is the first to consider forming a task force to help decide which requests to accept and which to reject.
So far, the district has rejected the requests it’s received from Mater Academy to open charter schools at Cape View, Oak Park and Roosevelt Elementary schools. It also rejected requests for a co-located school at Palm Bay Magnet High School.
A Florida law that took effect in July, makes it easier for charter schools to share space with public schools, if the public school is low-performing.
The district says two of the schools Mater wanted to co-locate in are not low performing. One of the other schools simply doesn’t have the additional space.
Across Florida, some 22 districts have received 690 letters from School of Hope operators asking to co-locate charter schools on their campuses, according to the Florida Policy Institute.
In Central Florida, those districts include Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia county schools.
Districts say they have received letters from groups that are not official School of Hope operators. And they have received letters targeting schools that are not low-performing.
In Orange County, one school that a School of Hope operator targeted won’t even exist next year, as the district plans to demolish it.
“Only Hope operators that have been formally reviewed and approved by the State Board of Education are authorized to issue Schools of Hope notices,” the Florida Department of Education said in a statement. “Any organization not on the state’s official Hope operator list does not have the authority to make such requests.”
The approved School of Hope operators in Florida are the following: Mater Academy, RCMA, Democracy Prep Public Schools, IDEA Public Schools, Success Academy, Renaissance/Warrington Preparatory Academy and KIPP New Jersey.
New York-based Success Academy opened its first charter school in Florida in September through the School of Hope initiative with plans to expand in the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated Success Academy and the other School of Hope operators saying they provide more educational options for parents.
“Florida leads the nation in educational freedom, and today we are adding to that promise,” DeSantis said at the launch of Success Academy in Florida. “Florida’s families deserve world-class education, and we will continue to make it available to every child no matter their zip code.”
But experts warn Schools of Hope, which can co-locate at no additional cost to the charter school operator, could pose additional funding challenges to already cash-strapped public school districts.
The Florida Policy Institute released a report this week that found that state funding diverted to private school vouchers increased from 12% of overall education funding for the 2021 school year to 24% in 2025.
A separate audit of the school voucher program found that the program had left many public schools underfunded and that there was inequitable funding between districts.
Read the full School of Hope expansion law here:
