Schools of Hope (SOH) are a special category of charter schools created by Florida law in 2017. The original intent was to provide additional options for students attending persistently low-performing schools, primarily in areas of concentrated poverty.

Schools of Hope are operated by state-approved charter operators (called “Hope Operators”) and are overseen at the state level rather than by local communities.

In 2025, lawmakers quietly expanded the Schools of Hope law through a late-session budget bill. These changes allow Schools of Hope to be placed inside existing public school buildings even when the local school board and community object.

The Florida Board of Education (BOE) then adopted rules to implement this law, limiting local decision-making and accelerating timelines.

Co-location means a privately operated charter school is placed inside a district public school building, sharing classrooms, cafeterias, gyms, libraries, and common spaces.

This can happen without local approval, even in schools that are fully functioning and serving students well.

Supporters claim it’s about “using underutilized space.”
Communities experience it as a state-mandated takeover of public school buildings.

Public school facilities are community assets often serving as neighborhood anchors, special education hubs, magnet programs, and hurricane shelters. Forced co-location removes local control over how these spaces are used.

Very little.

School districts have:

• Only 20 days to respond to a co-location notice

• Limited grounds to object

• No final decision-making authority

Community input is not required before a school is targeted.

Students may experience:

• Loss of classrooms used for special education services, counseling, STEM/arts programs, reading intervention, or electives

• Scheduling conflicts and shared facilities

• Reduced access to programs that made the school successful in the first place

No.

Schools of Hope are charter schools, not district public schools. They operate under different oversight, transparency, and accountability rules, even when housed in the same building as a public school.

Often, yes.

Districts may be required to:

• Provide facilities at no cost

• Supply services like custodial care, maintenance, security, food service, nursing, and transportation

Meanwhile, the district school continues operating, stretching public resources thinner.

If a School of Hope closes:

• Families are displaced

• Districts must absorb enrollment and staffing disruptions

• The community is left dealing with the fallout often without accountability for the operator

Legal concerns have been raised, but rulemaking alone cannot fix the problem because the authority comes from the statute itself. Lasting change requires legislative action.

Because rules cannot override the law.

As long as state law allows forced co-location, the Board of Education can only adjust how it happens, not whether it happens.

You can:

• Ask if your school or district has received a co-location notice

• Speak at school board meetings and submit written comments

• Contact state legislators and demand repeal of forced co-location

• Join organizing efforts through Schools of Nope

• Share your story: especially impacts on students, programs, safety, and community use of schools