A coalition of parents, educators, and community leaders is protesting what it calls an "unfunded mandate" and the "unprecedented surge of 'Schools of Hope' charter operators" who seek to open programs inside hundreds of South Florida's public schools.
The groups — including the United Teachers of Dade, NAACP Miami-Dade Branch, the Miami-Dade County Council of PTA/PTSA, and others — oppose the "co-location" efforts, which they argue threaten the financial stability and local control of the public education system.
" It's called co-location, but in reality, it is the hostile takeover of our traditional public schools," said Florida PTA President-Elect Jude Bruno at a press conference Thursday outside of a Miami elementary school.
" It is a for-profit charter operator having the ability to come into a school that is already being used for an educational purpose and being able to open up another school that is not accountable to a locally elected school board."
The controversy stems from the recent expansion of state law to allow "Schools of Hope" charter operators to claim space in public school facilities and qualify for millions of dollars in additional state funding.
READ MORE: Major New York City-based charter school network to expand in Miami. DeSantis cheers the move
Law helps struggling schools
Lawmakers created the Schools of Hope program in 2017 to encourage more publicly funded, privately run schools to open in areas where traditional public schools had been failing for years, giving students and families in those neighborhoods a way to bail out of a struggling school.
At Thursday's press conference, South Florida education advocates rejected the premise of the program.
" Let's stop pretending this is about fixing failing schools because the data tells a different story," said United Teachers of Dade Vice President Dannielle Boyer. "The majority of schools targeted for co-location are successful, stable public schools, earning A or B ratings, demonstrating strong gains and staffed by educators."
This year’s law loosens restrictions on where Schools of Hope can operate, allowing them to set up within the walls of a public school — even a high-performing one — if the campus has underused or vacant facilities.
Traditional schools across the state are struggling with declining enrollments, including in some of Florida’s largest metro areas, where school districts manage sprawling real estate holdings in prime locations.
Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties— which collectively operate 800 traditional public schools — account for nearly half of all co-location filings for classroom space statewide, with close to 300 letters targeting local campuses, according to the coalition.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has long supported school choice policies and the expansion of charter schools, like the New York City-based Success Academy. He said the incoming charters would not harm existing public schools.
“If a charter school is offering better programs, then [traditional public schools] will have to do something to earn the trust of parents back,” DeSantis said in September.
In September, the Success Academy Charter Schools CEO and Founder Eva Moskowitz appeared alongside DeSantis, Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas and Florida International University President Jeanette Nuñez, to announce its expansion plans in Florida. They also announced that Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin was backing the charter school network's move into Florida with a $50 million gift.
'A shadow school system'
Critics warn that these co-location filings would allow private charter operators to "effectively build a shadow school system inside the public one" without the same accountability.
"This isn't choice. Choice comes with information," said EDUVoter President Crystal Etienne. "This isn't innovation. This is privatization."
A major point of contention is the fiscal arrangement mandated by the state law, which allows operators to “move in rent-free, while taxpayers remain responsible for maintenance, custodial services, transportation, utilities, and all other operational costs,” coalition leaders said.
“South Florida schools is already navigating major financial uncertainty not seen since the 2008 recession that has since been exacerbated with the expansion of Florida’s voucher program,” said coalition organizers in a statement.
Coalition leaders also announced their support for a proposed state bill aiming to reverse the ability of Schools of Hope to co-locate within public school districts. Broward's County's PTA/PTSA Council also passed an affirming resolution opposing co-location. The bill, S.B. 424, is sponsored by state Sen. Daryl Rouson, a Democrat from St. Petersburg.
The coalition includes the Broward County Council of PTA/PTSA, Palm Beach County Council of PTA, Power U, P.S. 305, and EDUVoter.
