South Florida schools are generating a lot of interest from charter schools that want to share space.
The Broward School District received 127 requests on Tuesday from four charter school providers expressing their intent to open “Schools of Hope” starting in the 2027-28 school year on 90 campuses in the county.
The Palm Beach County school district received 69 requests seeking to share space on 46 of its campuses.
Schools of hope initially were created as alternatives to failing district-run schools, but the law was greatly expanded this year. The focus has now shifted to allowing charter schools to operate rent-free on campuses that have extra space due to declining enrollment.
Two providers making requests in Broward and Palm Beach County, Mater Academy and Somerset, are both owned by the giant charter company Academica. They provided an identical list of 20 campuses to share in Broward and 14 in Palm Beach County.
Another provider, BridgePrep Academy, made requests to operate on 81 schools in Broward and 41 schools in Palm Beach County.
A fourth provider, KIPP Team & Family Schools, made a request to open on six campuses in Broward.
Two Broward schools, Broward Estates Early Learning Center and Parkway Middle, both in Lauderhill, got requests from all four providers. Nine schools in Palm Beach County received requests from Mater, Somerset and BridgePrep.
A state rule from the Department of Education says priority would go to the provider that asks first. According to a list prepared by Broward, the district received requests from Mater and KIPP at midnight Tuesday, with Somerset applications coming in at 12:03 a.m. The Bridgeprep requests came in at 12:33 a.m.
In Palm Beach County, notices arrived at midnight Tuesday from Mater Academy, 12:14 a.m. from Somerset Academy and 1:03 a.m. from BridgePrep, a spokesman said.
Only Mater Academy and KIPP are currently listed on the state Department of Education website as approved schools of hope providers.
“We determined that the notices from BridgePrep Academy, Inc. and Somerset Academy, Inc. were ineligible,” Palm Beach County schools said in a statement. “These applicants are not designated as Hope Operators under State Board of Education rules. Therefore, the District issued a formal objection to BridgePrep Academy, Inc. and Somerset Academy, Inc. for the schools they identified.”
For the schools requested by Mater Academy, Palm Beach schools “will follow the process required by state rule to schedule facility access. The District continues to evaluate each notice individually, and this step does not waive the District’s right to object to the applications.”
Somerset’s eligibility may change Thursday. The state Board of Education is expected to vote on whether to add the provider to its schools of hope list.
Somerset also is a former participant in the program. The state asked Somerset to take over the academically struggling Jefferson County’s only two schools in 2017, creating an all-charter district.
The effort didn’t show significant improvements, and Somerset pulled out of the county in 2022.
As for BridgePrep, the provider said in a letter to Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Michael Burke that it meets the state’s eligibility requirements for schools of hope. Bridgeprep operates about 20 charter schools throughout Florida, including in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.
“BridgePrep Academy, Inc. has demonstrated a consistent record of academic success and financial stability,” wrote Thomas Sutterfield, governing board chair for BridgePrep Academy. “We are presently awaiting administrative review by the Florida Department of Education.”
Although the application period for schools of hope only opened on Tuesday, Mater Academy made numerous requests in October to operate in districts including Broward, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough and Sarasota. Mater did not make any requests to Palm Beach County when it sent out its first batch of letters, school district officials said.
Mater requested 27 Broward schools last month, but in this week’s request, it sought 20. Five of those that dropped off the provider’s list were schools that serve special-needs populations. Mater also did not repeat its request for Thurgood Marshall Elementary and Walker Elementary, both from Fort Lauderdale. KIPP and BridgePrep made requests to locate in those two schools.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reached out to Miami-Dade on Wednesday to see if they received additional letters this week. Late Wednesday, a spokesman said the district had received 90 requests to open schools of hope.
Mater’s requests last month created confusion throughout the state, as they included schools, such as vocational schools and special needs centers, that appeared underenrolled on a state list only because they use space differently than traditional schools.
They also included numerous A- and B-rated schools. Critics called Mater’s effort a “land grab” that would siphon resources from traditional public schools.
State Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, told Broward School Board members this week that she expects the state Legislature to make changes to the law this year to address some concerns from school districts.
Academica, Mater’s parent company, responded to criticism this week with a message on its website, saying its efforts to open schools of hope could “assist Florida School Districts in making better use of empty classrooms and revitalize underenrolled schools.”
The company said it’s working with school districts to find the best locations for these schools.
“We have sent hundreds of letters because hundreds of the districts’ facilities are under-enrolled,” the message said. “Our objective isn’t to provide programs in all those facilities — far from it. At most, we will open a handful of schools for the 2027-28 school year. We are committed to working with parents, schools, and districts to provide the best educational option for Florida students.”
Academica said the providers will rescind notices for locations that will not be used.
