Board hears Schools of Hope expansion rules and objects to four local notices

Brevard Public Schools staff on Tuesday outlined how the state's expanded School of Hope program would work locally and why the district has objected to four notices of intent.

Assistant Superintendent Tara Harris told the board that state statute now allows approved HOPE operators to seek colocation in Florida opportunity zones, within a five-mile radius of persistently low-performing schools, or statewide if the district has no capacity in those buckets. Harris said the state's definition of "persistently low performing" has shifted to incorporate lowest'decile measures in third-grade reading and fourth-grade math, expanding the list of eligible schools.

Harris said the district received four notices of intent on Nov. 11 and that staff had objected to all four. She said two submissions did not meet the opportunity-zone or five-mile criteria and some requests came from organizations that are not state-approved operators.

Under the statute, districts must schedule campus access for potential operators within five calendar days, negotiate a shared-facility plan within 30 days after location is finalized, and complete a performance and shared-facility agreement within a total 60-day window. If a district fails to complete the package within 60 days, charter administrative fees would be reduced to 1 percent and a special magistrate process could be invoked.

Board member Esther Wright voiced strong objection to the expansion as drafted, saying on the record, "There's nothing about this that I like at all," and calling the statute "as clear as mud." Wright and other members raised concerns that colocated operators would not be bound by board policy while relying on district overhead, including custodial, transportation and safety services.

Harris said the district will form a task force in December to draft template shared-facility and performance agreements that would be refined for each campus, and that staff is pursuing legislative clarification on issues such as protections for districts in growth areas and how surtax or capital-outlay shares would be apportioned.

Next steps: Harris said staff will continue to object where operators do not meet statutory criteria and will convene a BPS task force in December to prepare shared-agreement templates should a notice proceed to the 60-day negotiation window.