Board hears how state 'Schools of Hope' changes could let charter operators co‑locate in district schools

District staff told the St. Lucie school board on Tuesday that recent state changes to the "Schools of Hope" program expand where operators may locate and allow co-location inside existing public schools, a shift the presenters said could impose unbudgeted facility and operational costs on districts.

The presenter summarized the statutory and rule changes and the district’s concern that the program’s geographic and co-location provisions now allow a School of Hope operator to apply to use underutilized or vacant space — or even share space inside an operating school — in many areas, including opportunity zones and locations that may be far from the persistently low‑performing schools the policy originally targeted.

“We're concerned because they can actually co locate in an existing operating school, and the school…