A controversial new law could force most local elementary and middle schools to make space for for-profits.
By Dania Hefley
Original Air Date: September 26, 2025
Host: Fort Walton Beach is located on the western tip of the Florida Panhandle, a seven-hour drive from Sarasota and 10 hours from Miami. That’s where a governor-appointed panel met this Wednesday to figure out how to implement a controversial new law that forces school districts to let for-profit school operators use public resources. Dania Hefley has the details.
Dania Hefley: Florida’s Board of Education, appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis, approved new rules to expand the “Schools of Hope” program. The vote was unanimous.
Florida Board of Education meeting at Fort Walton Beach. Photo via Northwest Florida State College
These rules let private charter schools, called “hope operators,” move into public school buildings that aren’t fully used, even if those schools have good grades. The new rules not only force districts to give these charters free space but also free services—things like custodians, food and buses.
The decision followed an emotional public comment period where speakers—all from Sarasota—condemned the policy. One speaker, India Miller, offered a comparison from business.
India Miller: As a former business person, I think about how this would work in the real world. To me, it would be like asking Home Depot to give Lowe’s space in their store and pay all of their infrastructure costs. It just does not make sense to me.
DH: Miller—who hosts a program on WSLR—also called the Schools of Hope “parasitical.” She said they benefit from public resources without giving back. Still, the board defended the decision, saying it was needed to improve education.
Board member MaryLynn Magar acknowledged the public’s comments on the program but then pivoted to the core belief of the board.
MaryLynn Magar: I find it interesting that all of the comment claimed to be supportive of school choice but called Schools of Hope “parasitic.” Schools of Hope wouldn’t be necessary if our public school system had done its job along the way.
DH: Board Member Daniel Foganholi directly addressed the term “parasitic” and framed the program as a solution for underprivileged students.
Daniel Foganholi: From serving in a community—plenty of Title I schools—those public schools that we had in that district was very tough. When we’re talking about facilities that have unused property, you still have to pay the bills there, first of all. When it comes to parasitic—when it comes to that word—I take offense to that, especially when it comes to—Title I schools in our districts, we used to get any help possible. As a board member, my principals, my teachers would accept any help possible to do what’s best for kids.
DH: The way the “Schools of Hope” law is implemented is especially relevant to Sarasota and Manatee counties. In an interview, Jimmy Glover, who is running for the Sarasota School Board, called the program a “hostile takeover.”
Jimmy Glover: The bottom line is, there are things that they don’t do or won’t do, such as special needs services, other support services, because they get a chance to pick and choose a lot of times who they want as students at their school without any oversight. That’s a problem. They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. They can’t say that they’re going to do something better and then they don’t even have the resources available. They want to use taxpayer dollars to perform services they say they can do better. It doesn’t make any sense to me.
Wilkinson Elementary students.
DH: Sarasota schools are strong overall, with an “A” grade and 67% of third graders reading on grade level last year. Manatee has a “B,” but with bigger weak spots. One school in Bradenton, G. D. Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary, had only 11% of third graders reading on grade level. That makes it a likely target for takeover. In Sarasota, schools losing students, like McIntosh Middle, down 10%, and Emma E. Booker Elementary, down 7%, could also be forced to share space with charter operators.
The debate over Schools of Hope was just one part of a meeting focused on the future of local schools. The public commenters on this issue all came from Sarasota, and they were mobilized by SEE Alliance, a local group focusing on schools.
Carol Lerner is the Sarasota-based founder of Support Our Schools. She was going to go to Fort Walton Beach, but her ride fell apart last-minute.
Lerner says the Board’s implementation could hit public schools even harder than the law was originally framed. She explained that while the new law doesn’t define “underused,” it removed the prior 50% capacity threshold. This means that a charter operator can now move into almost any public school building. She provided specific numbers on the impact this could have.
Carol Lerner: I looked at this, and of the ones that had 300 or more seats—and some of them have, like, a thousand empty seats—almost 50% of Sarasota schools meet that definition. It was 47.5% to be exact. And that included—I can’t remember—six or eight elementary schools and almost all the middle schools but one.
DH: She calls the fact that only a handful of public-school advocates from Sarasota made the long journey to Fort Walton Beach “a really big question.”
Wilkinson Elementary.
In Sarasota, the new law has already led the school district to propose a gambit that could lead to the first permanent school closing in the district’s history. The district is proposing to close Wilkinson Elementary, which has 395 empty seats. Under the plan, Wilkinson’s students would move to three nearby schools that also face low enrollment. The district, in turn, would move its administrative offices to the Wilkinson building. District leaders say this would raise those schools’ capacity rates above the “vulnerable” threshold, protecting them from a possible takeover by a “Schools of Hope” charter operator.
The law explicitly allows the charter operator, not the school district, to have final say on which facility they choose, even over the district’s objection.
Parents and advocates want a different plan. They’re pushing to keep Wilkinson open. One of their ideas is to gradually convert it into a K-through-8 school, which they say would fully use the campus.
For WSLR News, Dania Hefley.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.
