Pinellas board flags changes to Florida's "Schools of Hope" law, urges public input

Caprice Edmond, Pinellas County School Board vice chair, urged residents on Oct. 28 to contact state legislators over recent 2025 changes to Florida's Schools of Hope law, saying the revisions could allow charter operators to open within district schools without local approval or rent.

Edmond told the board the updated law changes the metric used to define a "persistently low-performing" school, adds federally designated "opportunity zones," and allows charters to co-locate in existing public-school facilities without paying rent or submitting to local oversight. "Well, it turns out under this new definition of persistently low performing schools, 5 of our schools would qualify for that even though 3 of them are B schools and 2 of them are C schools," Edmond said.

The board member said the 2025 changes also allow charter operators to co-locate inside a public school facility and receive services without paying rent, raising potential operational and financial implications for districts. "Now what they're saying now what the legislation says is that if we have room in our schools, if we have seats available, then they can just move in. And not just move in, but not pay any rent or maintenance," she said.

Edmond urged constituents to contact members of the Florida House and Senate education committees and to attend interim committee meetings now under way. She outlined near-term deadlines: bills must be into drafting by Nov. 21 and the 2026 session runs Jan. 13 to March 13, and suggested district-level options such as seeking repeal of particular provisions, removing the opportunity-zone trigger, or delaying implementation by a year to resolve administrative issues.

No formal board action was taken on the Schools of Hope matter during the meeting; Edmond presented the information during the board'members'reports portion of the agenda and framed it as a call for public engagement.