According to the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), charter schools “are public schools that operate under a performance contract, or a 'charter' which frees them from many regulations created for traditional public schools while holding them accountable for academic and financial results.”
Charter schools in Florida date back to 1996, when legislation was first enacted authorizing the creation of these schools. At the time, the primary purpose of these schools — which could be closed by the school district if they did not meet student performance objectives — was to improve student outcomes. When introduced, the program restricted both the number of schools that could be opened and the number of charter schools that an organization could own.
Today, a significant proportion of Florida students are enrolled in charter schools. Enrollment in charter schools has grown to over 700 schools, serving more than 406,832 students statewide.
As noted, charter schools are public schools, though they differ from neighborhood schools (traditional public schools). Like neighborhood school teachers, charter school teachers must be certified under Florida law, and charter schools must specify their student performance outcomes in their charter. Charter schools also receive school grades measuring their performance, as neighborhood schools do. However, an important difference between neighborhood schools and charter schools is that charter schools are largely exempt from most education statutes in the Florida School Code.[1] Charter schools are funded through the Florida Education Finance Program in the same way that neighborhood schools are; charter schools receive the same per-pupil amount, which is currently $9,127. Charter school owners are required to be a nonprofit organization, though charter schools are able to contract for services, including with for-profit organizations.
Schools of Hope is a special category of charter schools, created by the Florida Legislature in 2017, to serve students in “persistently low performing” (PLP) schools. Unlike most charter schools, Schools of Hope charter schools are exempted from teacher certification criteria. These schools receive priority for the state’s Public Charter School Grant program competition, as well as receiving additional funding from the Schools of Hope Program in the FLDOE. The schools must be Title I eligible and be located in the attendance zone of a PLP school, or within five miles of a PLP school. PLP schools are defined as those who receive a school grade of “C” for three consecutive years, or as a “turnaround school” that has been closed after two years of school improvement efforts were deemed unsatisfactory. Schools of Hope must be officially designated as such by the Florida Department of Education. Currently, there are six designated Schools of Hope operators: Mater Academy, RCMA, Democracy Prep Public Schools, Inc., IDEA Public Schools, Success Academy, Renaissance / Warring Preparatory Academy, and KIPP New Jersey. Some of these entities are tied to large national charter school operatives, including: Academica, Charter Schools USA, KIPP Public Schools and Success Academy.
Not only do charter schools already benefit from public tax dollars beginning with the full per-pupil amount, they also benefit from being eligible for funds from: school district discretionary millage; capital outlay funding; federal charter school grant funding; federal funds, such as Title I; funds from the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and other additional sources. During the 2025 legislative session, HB 1115 was introduced, a bill that would have even further expanded these benefits and privileges. HB 1115 was dismissed by the Legislature on June 16, along with all other bills that had not been enrolled — except for budget bills. However, language from HB 1115 about Schools of Hope was again introduced in SB 2510, a budget bill that was passed by the Florida Legislature in the waning hours of the 2025 legislative session.
SB 2510 changed the definition of PLP schools and expanded the boundaries in which Schools of Hope can operate in to include — in addition to already being within 5 miles of a PLP school — also being within five miles of an Opportunity Zone. There are more than 400 of these zones in Florida. The most important added benefit to Schools of Hope is that they are now permitted to co-locate in public schools that are vacant or underutilized at no cost to Schools of Hope operators. The school district is also obliged to provide — without limitation — amenities such as custodial services and transportation. In return, the school district receives the nominal benefit of including Schools of Hope students in its capital outlay funding calculations. The definitional change and the expanded geography in which Schools of Hope can co-locate, provides School of Hope operators access to a great deal more real estate. It also threatens high performing schools that are not at capacity.
The main issue is evident: private operators are allowed rent-free access to public school facilities, including athletic fields, libraries, and cafeterias; whereas public entities, such as churches and community groups, are required to — at a minimum — pay for the costs of utilizing basic services, such as school custodial staff. School districts also bear the costs of maintaining and repairing the facilities occupied by School of Hope operators, even on days that public school is not in session. School districts also may have to decide logistics for accommodating Schools of Hope that have differing bell schedules than their own, all within a single building. An additional concern is the brief 20-day time frame the school district has to respond to the “letters of intent” that Schools of Hope operators must submit, which identify the school or schools they are considering for co-location. This creates a highly limited amount of time for parent and community input to be heard during the process, and the school districts have little to no choice of whether to accept the co-located School of Hope.
On November 11, 2025, 690 letters of intent from Schools of Hope operators were received by 22 school districts, regarding co-location in over 450 schools. Three FLDOE designated operators sent letters of intent: KIPP, Mater Academy, and Success Academy. Letters were also received by two other operators that have not been officially designated as Schools of Hope operators by FLDOE — Bridgeprep Academy and Somerset Academy had initially applied to become a designated Schools of Hope operator, but their application was removed from the State Board of Education’s agenda during its November 2025 meeting.
Florida’s neighborhood schools are already deeply underfunded and threatened by a decline in enrollment, due to unfettered increases in vouchers that are funded by draining public coffers. Now, these same school districts are also having to shoulder the responsibility for the costs of educating School of Hope students who are not enrolled in their public schools. Schools of Hope are not held to the same accountability and transparency standards as neighborhood schools. Further, public input and legislative review of bill language of the changes to Schools of Hope statute did not have the same level of scrutiny as a bill that goes through all its committee stops. The language in the bill was tacked on at the last minute, and did not allow time for public feedback, because it was added so late in the legislative process and so close to the end of the fiscal year. Furthermore, private operators benefit from this law, while the public schools that serve Florida’s communities and the students who make up these communities are harmed. It is time for lawmakers to repeal this law and end this drain of taxpayer dollars that harm Florida’s neighborhood schools and students to the benefit of private interests. This expenditure of taxpayer dollars, at the very least, necessitates public scrutiny and input.
Note
[1] The Florida School Code governs all levels of public education, including kindergarten through 12th grade education, ranging from attendance guidelines to auditing requirements for school districts.
