{"id":124893,"date":"2026-01-20T14:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/124893\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:01:11","slug":"duval-county-school-board-expected-to-discuss-controversial-schools-of-hope-law-amid-community-pushback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/124893\/","title":{"rendered":"Duval County School Board expected to discuss controversial \u2018Schools of Hope\u2019 law amid community pushback"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 The Duval County School Board is expected to discuss the controversial \u201cSchools of Hope\u201d law during a meeting Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Recent expansions to Florida\u2019s Schools of Hope program allow a handful of charter operators to move into neighborhoods served by struggling traditional public schools. The new rules compel districts to allow \u201cSchools of Hope\u201d to use district buildings rent-free, and to allow existing schools to share common areas and resources with the private operators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Tuesday\u2019s meeting will come almost two weeks after the Duval County School Board said it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/01\/08\/duval-county-school-board-rejects-schools-of-hope-request-from-mater-academy-for-2-dcps-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/01\/08\/duval-county-school-board-rejects-schools-of-hope-request-from-mater-academy-for-2-dcps-schools\/\">had rejected requests from Miami-based Mater Academy to open charters<\/a> in two Jacksonville schools under the \u201cSchools of Hope\u201d law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Merrill Road Elementary and Fort Caroline School of the Arts were targeted by the charter school company for possible co-location.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The district sent letters to parents on Jan. 8 confirming it rejected Mater Academy\u2019s request, saying it would be \u201cmaterially impracticable\u201d to share either school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">RELATED | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/01\/08\/duval-county-school-board-rejects-schools-of-hope-request-from-mater-academy-for-2-dcps-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2026\/01\/08\/duval-county-school-board-rejects-schools-of-hope-request-from-mater-academy-for-2-dcps-schools\/\">Duval County School Board rejects \u2018Schools of Hope\u2019 requests from Mater Academy for 2 DCPS schools<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Mater initially expressed interest in 25 DCPS campuses, but later withdrew 23 of those requests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">On Jan. 6, the school board added Schools of Hope to its legislative agenda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Board Chair Charlotte Joyce and Vice Chair April Carney opposed adding Schools of Hope to the agenda, while Board members Cindy Pearson and Darryl Willie supported it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">This decision also came with some pushback from community members.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">MORE | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2025\/12\/12\/thats-unacceptable-duval-county-parents-push-for-school-board-action-against-schools-of-hope-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2025\/12\/12\/thats-unacceptable-duval-county-parents-push-for-school-board-action-against-schools-of-hope-law\/\">\u2018That\u2019s unacceptable\u2019: Duval County parents push for school board action against \u2018Schools of Hope\u2019 law<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe need to do anything we can to fight back against the Schools of Hope law. In the amendment I hope you will seriously advocate with the legislative delegation. And I hope we will protect the schools from being taken over by squatters,\u201d Gloria Einstein, an advocate against Schools of Hope, said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Tuesday\u2019s meeting begins at 9 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 The Duval County School Board is expected to discuss the controversial \u201cSchools of Hope\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1040,1039,116,118,117,7539],"class_list":["post-124893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-dcps","tag-duval-county","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-schools-of-hope"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}