One of Florida’s six charter Schools of Hope operators blanketed school districts this week with letters indicating its desire to take over space in underused campuses across the state, a move critics are likening to a land grab.

Miami-based Mater Academy sent notices of intent to operate in hundreds of schools by fall 2027, including nearly 30 in Hillsborough County, along with more than a dozen in Pinellas and six in Pasco. Each district has discussed plans to close or change the use of under-capacity schools as enrollment declines across the region.

The correspondence arrived two weeks after the State Board of Education adopted rules easing Schools of Hope access to existing district facilities. The board acted in accordance with legislation that lawmakers adopted in the waning hours of their extended 2025 session, adding to budget language provisions that had failed to pass the Senate during the regular session.

Those provisions included allowing the state-approved charter operators to “co-locate” in schools that have available space, regardless of whether they are persistently low-performing or sit in areas of identified economic need. Some schools identified by Mater have earned state grades of A or B.

In Pasco, campuses targeted by Mater include Wendell Krinn Technical High, Crews Lake Middle, Cox and Lacoochee elementary schools and the Locke and West Pasco education centers.

The Hillsborough schools that Mater targeted include Adams Middle, Broward Elementary, Burnett Middle, Caminiti ESE Center, Carver ESE Center, Chamberlain High, Cleveland Elementary, Dorothy Thomas Exceptional Center, Dowdell Middle, Woodson PreK-8, Edison Elementary, Ferrell Middle Magnet, Franklin Middle, Graham Elementary, James Elementary, Just Elementary, Adum K-8, King High, Lavoy ESE Center, Lomax Elementary, Lopez ESE Center, Monroe Middle, Oak Park Elementary, Seffner Elementary, Smith Middle, Town and Country Elementary, Washington Elementary and Young Middle.

Pinellas did not immediately provide a full list of schools on Mater’s list, though one letter obtained by the Tampa Bay Times focused on Bay Point Middle in St. Petersburg.

Officials suggested the letters are not legally sufficient, though, saying the rule has not yet taken effect and Mater acted prematurely. They anticipated Mater would send another round of letters this fall.

According to the new state rule, the districts would have to provide “the same facilities-related services it provides to district-operated schools, including, without limitation, custodial services, maintenance services, school safety services, food services, nursing services, and student transportation services.”

The original intent of the Schools of Hope program, established in 2017, was to have nationally recognized and successful charter school operators provide added academic opportunities to students whose local district schools were poor performing. Texas-based IDEA has operated two Schools of Hope in Hillsborough County since 2021.

A day after the state board adopted its rule, Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference with the founders of New York-based Success Academy, touting that group’s plan to open schools in Miami. DeSantis celebrated the initiative as adding to the state’s promise that it will provide a world-class education to every child “no matter their ZIP code.”

Hillsborough School Board member Nadia Combs said taxpayers should be outraged by the lack of oversight or accountability for operating Schools of Hope, some of which have a low percentage of certified teachers.

“These Schools of Hope don’t even have certified teachers,” she said. “What kind of hope is that for a child? That’s going to ensure cyclical poverty,” Combs said. “It’s people making profit off taxpayer money.”

Combs pointed out that some charter schools have D and F grades, while nearby public schools with similar demographics receive A and B grades.

“I think most taxpayers, whether they’re Republican or Democrat, would agree there has to be oversight,” she said.

State Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Weston Democrat who previously taught in Broward County and served on its school board, warned against the possible effects during late-night budget debates. She reiterated her concerns after seeing Mater deliver its letters across the state.

“The Legislature opened up the door for charter schools to come on in and live rent-free in public schools,” Bartleman said Oct. 9. “They are going to disrupt those learning environments.”

If the goal was to send high-performing charters into failing schools to turn them around, she said, it would be more difficult to oppose the concept. But the way the law was revised at the last minute, without guardrails such as ensuring the charters pay for the services they incur, Bartleman argued that the model is little more than a real estate grab.

“It’s basically open season on any school you have that has open space,” said Holly Bullard, chief strategy and development officer with Florida Policy Institute, which advocated against the Schools of Hope language. “The idea that a for-profit connected charter operator can stake claim to hundreds of classrooms across the state overnight, without competition or the consent of local parents or taxpayers, is an affront to parents’ rights and home rule.”

Few observers expected Mater to start Schools of Hope at all of the schools it inquired about this week. But they noted a line in the state board rule that gave Mater an advantage in acting quickly.

The rule states that if two operators request the same space, the one that submitted its notice first will get the nod.

“So they want to get in with every district, whether they plan to move forward or not,” said Pinellas County School Board member Lisa Cane, who got an early morning briefing from district lawyers about the proposal. “We think they sent it because they want to be first on the list.”

Mater is one of Florida’s oldest charter school operators, opening its first campus in 1998. Founded by Fernando Zulueta, who also created the giant charter school management firm Academica, the organization has 44 schools, primarily in South Florida, though it has expanded into Central Florida in addition to Nevada and Ohio. It has a school slated to open in Wesley Chapel in 2026.

In an email, Mater President Roberto Blanch said his group submitted its letters in accordance with the updated state rule.

“Our goal through this process is to increase access for families and bring students back into the classroom. We look forward to continuing to work with school districts across the state, as we have for decades, to ensure every child has the opportunity to succeed,“ Blanch said.

Cane said Pinellas officials have several questions about the Schools of Hope rules and law, including issues such as payment for services provided and what happens if the population surges at a school that previously had low enrollment.

She likened the concerns to those about voucher expansions, for which the state is still trying to clarify how to best track the money associated with each student.

Pasco School Board member Jessica Wright wanted more information about how the state and charter operators are identifying schools as low-performing or under capacity. She noted, for example, that state capacity reports do not include prekindergarten classes that might be in schools, potentially skewing the numbers.

She also suggested that just because a company might have an interest in opening a charter, that does not necessarily translate into local support.

“I’m not feeling too concerned at this particular time,” Wright said.

Pasco Superintendent John Legg, who co-founded one of his county’s oldest charter schools, said he had hoped any relationship with Schools of Hope would be more collaborative.

“We are a school choice-friendly county. We welcome opportunities to partner with charter schools,” Legg said. “However, throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks is not a partnership. … I question whether it’s in good faith they’re doing that.”