The Pinellas County School District unveiled a plan Tuesday to prevent outside charters from moving into public schools, in response to a Florida law passed last year that expanded a program called “Schools of Hope.”
As a result, last year, a series of charters — some run by for-profit companies — applied to “co-locate” rent-free inside hundreds of Florida's under-enrolled public schools.
The Pinellas County strategy entails closing two elementary schools, merging two schools and expanding another to serve grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
"No school-based staff members will lose their jobs as a result of the recommendations. All employees will be offered placements within the district, with staffing decisions prioritizing continuity and stability for students and families," said a district statement.
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This plan was compiled after a series of public meetings to gauge community concerns in recent weeks, and is not final until the school board votes on it next month.
“Your voices mattered, and they helped shape the current proposals and will continue to be utilized," Superintendent Kevin Hendrick said in a video message released after the school board workshop.
He said the moves are “rooted in the realities our county is facing: a declining school-age population, legislative changes regarding school building use, and ensuring that every student has access to strong, sustainable schools."
Here are the basics:
- Close Cross Bayou Elementary at the end of the 2025–26 school year, reassigning students to nearby schools with available capacity and transitioning specialized programs to other sites.
- Close Disston Academy at the end of the 2025–26 school year and relocate programs and students to established educational alternative sites
- Create a K-8 school combining Bay Point Elementary and Bay Point Middle, to be located on the middle school campus beginning in the 2027–28 school year.
- Expand Oldsmar Elementary into a K-8 school beginning in the 2026–27 school year.
- Expand the district’s Employee Child Care program to McMullen Booth Elementary for the 2026–27 school year.
Dozens of schools across the Tampa Bay region received “notice” letters from charter school operators, including Miami-based Mater Academy, late in 2025, requesting floor plans and indicating their intent to move into unoccupied space.
The Pinellas school district, which is an A-rated district, “received 56 ‘building notices’ for 37 separate schools in our district from three different organizations,” Pinellas spokeswoman Isabel Mascarenas said in November.
However, all but 12 notices came from charters that are not recognized as Hope School operators by the state of Florida.
Bay Point Middle and Cross Bayou Elementary were among the schools to receive such notices.
The district responded and argued that such co-locations were not practical.
According to a presentation released at the Tuesday workshop in Pinellas, the district’s maneuvers would reduce the number of “student stations” by 1,781 and would cut $7.7 million in annual expenses. A one-time capital infusion of $2.4 million is required to repurpose the schools. The land and facilities at the schools that close could be sold.
More public meetings are planned, and the school board will vote on the strategy on Feb. 24.
