Published: October 14, 2025 at 4:55 PM
New state law opens doors for Schools of Hope charter school operators
BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Jennifer Levi, a mother of three, said her youngest son was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and he is in a Broward County Public School cluster class.
Levi said she and other parents are advocating for a charter school managed by BCPS that can meet the “profound and intense support needs” of students with ASD.
“He’s part of a population that is significantly underserved,” Levi said.
Levi’s vision comes as the Broward County School Board is dealing with a school district that faces a steep drop in enrollment. BCPS Superintendent Howard Hepburn recently said six schools could close because of it.
“We had about an 8,000 to 9,000 student decline for the start of the school year, which equated to about $85 to $90 million,” Hepburn said.
School districts in Florida were preparing for an influx of charter schools. Gov. Ron DeSantis approved Florida Senate Bill 2510 on June 30. The law requires “a third-party administrator” to transfer “money from a loan fund” to the Schools of Hope program, a charter school for students from “persistently low-performing schools.”
This means the charter school operators can move into public school campuses under capacity.
“When you have a competitor in your building and we are actually paying for many of the services that they require, that’s the journey that we’re concerned about and how it’s going to look for us as a school district,” Hepburn said.
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Linnie Supall