‘Schools of Hope’ charter operators claim tens of thousands of seats in Florida public schools

Florida’s public schools are reporting a flood of letters from charter school operators staking claim to space inside District campuses under the state’s expanded “ Schools of Hope ” program.

As of this week, 22 School Districts across the state have received at least 690 letters of intent from charter school operators, according to data gathered by the Florida Policy Institute, a member of the Florida Coalition for Thriving Public Schools. The group has filed public records requests with all 67 School Districts in Florida to track how many letters have been submitted since they became legally valid last week.

School Districts reporting letters so far include Brevard, Broward, Collier, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pas