The Florida Board of Education adopted new rules on Friday that set some limits on the ability of charter schools — some run by for-profit companies — to move into underused public school district buildings.
Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas praised the rule-making changes and called the controversial practice known as co-location "an efficient, effective and student-centered strategy."
Critics of the rules said they remain vague in parts, and that the bulk of the costs would still land on taxpayers, to the detriment of students attending public schools.
“This is not a fix. This is a step in the right direction, but it is still going to be a problem for public schools,” said Damaris Allen, executive director of the non-partisan Families for Strong Public Schools.
Cost-sharing is “minimal,” and charters still don’t have to show there is a need for their services in the areas where they seek to co-locate, she said.
“One of the reasons for low enrollment could be that the school-age population is going down in an area, and that could be causing the low enrollment,” Allen added.
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Language was inserted into the General Appropriations Act at the end of the 2025 session, which vastly expanded a 2017 program known as Schools of Hope, allowing certain charter school chains to set up inside struggling or under-enrolled public schools.
As soon as the new law took effect, allowing Hope Operators to apply for any vacant or underused public school space, a flurry of notices went out across the state, 690 in all, alerting schools of a charter’s intent to “co-locate.”
The new rules establish a clearer definition of what “vacant, underused or surplus” means, by establishing that schools could be a target for co-location if their “facility utilization rate” is under 75%, or they have 400 surplus student stations.
Brand new schools are now off the table because the rules say schools must be more than four years old to be considered.
Another change restricts the number of notices a charter can send to five in a 12-month period. Those letters must also be sent at least a year before the proposed opening of a School of Hope, but not beyond two years.
When it comes to costs, public schools would still pay for maintenance and food. Charters would still not pay rent, and would only pay maintenance on days the charter is open, but not the public school.
A mutual management plan must be established between the two schools to sort out payment for shared services.
That replaces earlier language that said services would be provided “without limitation.” The new rules also allow districts to charge for "incremental costs of utilities" used by the Hope Operator.
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"To use the term incremental to describe compensation is subjective and lacks clarity," said Caprice Edmond, president of the Greater Florida Consortium of School Boards, before the vote, during public comment.
Edmond, who is also the chair of the Pinellas County School Board, said cost remains a key concern.
"One of our top priorities is that school districts are fairly reimbursed for services and personnel to support co-located Schools of Hope," Edmond said.
For a charter to be considered a School of Hope by the state of Florida, among other criteria, it must also show the achievement of its students — and college attendance — exceed that of the districts and states in which it operates.
More than 70% of students served would have to be eligible for free and reduced meals under the National School Lunch Program.
“There would have to be no material misstatements and ‘ongoing concerns’ in the operator’s financial audits,” said an analysis by the Florida Policy Institute.
Seven agencies are designed "Hope Operators" in Florida, including Mater Academy, RCMA, Democracy Prep Public Schools, Inc., IDEA Public Schools, Success Academy, Renaissance/Warrington Preparatory Academy, and KIPP New Jersey.
A bill to repeal the Schools of Hope legislation got no traction among lawmakers in the Republican-dominated House and Senate this session. But Allen said the fight is not over.
“If this isn't going to be good for public school students, we should continue to raise our voices,” Allen said. “Schools of Hope do not implement co-location until 2027, so we actually have another pass at repealing this legislation."
