{"id":13867,"date":"2025-10-21T12:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/13867\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T12:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:49:07","slug":"new-charter-schools-could-pull-students-from-orange-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/13867\/","title":{"rendered":"New charter schools could pull students from Orange schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid a burgeoning statewide controversy over a new law<\/a> easing the way for private groups to launch public schools, two charter schools have announced plans to open in Orange County, moves that could pull students from neighborhood campuses already struggling to fill their classrooms.<\/p>\n

One of the new charter schools hopes to take advantage of the enrollment declines in Orange County Public Schools. It has filed paperwork to move, rent free, into a campus in Pine Hills that is about half empty.<\/p>\n

The other wants to recruit students from five other public schools, all under enrolled, including OCPS Academic Center of Excellence, whose opening eight years ago was viewed as part of the effort to revitalize the economically downtrodden Parramore neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Both charters plan to open in Orange under Florida\u2019s \u201cSchools of Hope\u201d program, started by the Florida Legislature in 2017 to improve education in neighborhoods with \u201cpersistently low-performing schools.\u201d A last-minute revision to the law this year allows established charter schools \u2014 privately-run schools that take public funds but have wide latitude to run their operations \u2014 to use, at no cost, empty space in traditional public schools. That has sparked applications around the state to create new charter schools in such spaces.<\/p>\n

But the new schools are receiving a chilly reception in an Orange County district that has seen a 6,500-student enrollment decline this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what they would have to offer that we don\u2019t already offer,\u201d said Angie Gallo, a member of the Orange County School Board.<\/p>\n

Orange school leaders also fear the charter schools will put a strain on a district budget that is already stretched thin. Schools are funded on a per-student basis, so campuses that lose students can be a hardship for a district that still must cover fixed costs, such as a principal\u2019s salary and utility bills. Adding to the anticipated difficulties, OCPS would be required to pay some of the charter schools\u2019 bills.<\/p>\n

Educators in other Florida districts characterized the moves\u00a0as a \u201cland grab\u201d that could completely take over public school buildings in a few years.<\/p>\n

Both charter school companies tout their schools\u2019 academic achievement and college-preparatory focus.<\/p>\n

The KIPP Team and Family charter school company submitted a notice to OCPS in August that it intends to build a K-12 campus and pull students now zoned for five district schools. All the campuses are under enrolled by at least 200 students. The schools all earned Cs from the state last year based on student performance on Florida\u2019s standardized tests.<\/p>\n

The KIPP network operates more than 270 charter campuses nationwide and says it creates \u201cjoyful, academically excellent schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

KIPP\u2019s four Florida campuses, three in Duval County and one in Miami, earned Cs and Ds from the state last year.<\/p>\n

The Miami-based Mater Academy wants to take over part of Ridgewood Park Elementary, rated a B by the state. The school now has 459 students on a campus meant for 896.<\/p>\n

\"RidgewoodRidgewood Park Elementary in Orlando, on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. The school operates at about half capacity as of the 2025\u201326 school year, and could see a charter school take classroom space rent-free under the new Schools of Hope rules. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Mater bills itself as a network of \u201ccollege prep charter schools\u201d focused on \u201crigorous academics.\u201d<\/p>\n

This month, at least 15 Florida school districts have received requests from Mater to open schools of hope on an estimated 300 school campuses for the 2027-28 school year, said Andrea Messina, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.<\/p>\n

KIPP, which stands for \u201cKnowledge is Power Program,\u201d intends to find its own campus, but KIPP Co-President Gabriella DiFilippo said the network hasn\u2019t ruled out the possibility of occupying an existing OCPS school.<\/p>\n

KIPP hopes to open its Orange charter school in the 2028-29 school year and to enroll 2,600 students by its fifth year, according to its proposal.<\/p>\n

It would pull students from Eagle\u2019s Nest Elementary School, Eccleston Elementary School, Pineloch Elementary School, Rolling Hills Elementary Schools, and OCPS ACE.<\/p>\n

All five schools enroll far fewer students than their campuses were built for, a trend across the district and the state this year where public school enrollment is down by about 70,000. Districts blame the enrollment loss on declining birth rates and the expansion of Florida\u2019s school voucher program, which provides money for private school scholarships and homeschooling services and has lured many students away from traditional public schools.<\/p>\n

OCPS ACE, which opened in 2017, offers specialized community services, including an early learning center and on-site healthcare. But the K-8 school currently serves 746 students in a facility built for almost 1,300, making it the most under-enrolled of the five.<\/p>\n

\"DismissalDismissal of the OCPS Academic Center for Excellence in downtown Orlando, on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. KIPP, a charter school company, sent a letter of intent to open a “School of Hope” in Orlando that would pull from OCPS ACE, among other schools. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

DiFilippo said KIPP sees the enrollment declines as an opportunity to bring families back into public education through charter school options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand what the trends are, but that\u2019s not necessarily a daunting proposition for us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

KIPP would recruit students by reaching out to families who live in the five schools\u2019 attendance zones, with door knocking and presentations at apartment complexes, multilingual mail flyers and paid advertising, according to the group\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

Mater accidentally submitted its Orange letter of intent last week to the Osceola County school district, according to emails obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. Osceola Superintendent Mark Shanoff forwarded\u00a0it to OCPS Superintendent Maria Vazquez the next day, saying it was \u201creceived in error.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallo, who is also the president of the Florida School Boards Association, said the error was characteristic of Mater\u2019s hasty approach to getting space in public schools. In sending Broward County Public Schools letters of intent for 27 of its schools, Mater accidentally sent the district one for a school in Collier County, too.<\/p>\n

Osceola County received two notices from Mater, seeking to operate in Deerwood Elementary School and Osceola Technical College \u2013 Central Campus.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Mater Academy President Roberto Blanch said the school had \u201ca proven record of delivering results for students\u201d and was looking to expand through \u201cschools of hope\u201d as a way to \u201cincrease access for families and bring students back into the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mater already operates another school in Orange near Lake Nona, which has its own campus. The group also proposed but never opened a school in Apopka in 2021.<\/p>\n

In past years, school boards had more discretion about which charter schools, which need a board\u2019s approval to open, could operate in their districts. But the \u201cschools of hope\u201d law and other rule changes makes a local school board\u2019s vote largely procedural \u2014 meaning districts are forced to approve charter schools even if they don\u2019t make sense for the district\u2019s student population.<\/p>\n

If Mater moves into Ridgewood Park, OCPS would be responsible for the cost of operating facilities that it could otherwise shut down to save money, and it would have to pay for transportation and food for Mater\u2019s students.<\/p>\n

Orange administrators have begun discussions about whether some OCPS elementary campuses might eventually need to be closed, consolidated or had wings or floors shut down because of low enrollment.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers who approved the law\u2019s changes said it makes sense to try to fill empty public schools.<\/p>\n

\"RidgewoodRidgewood Park Elementary in Orlando, on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. The school operates at about half capacity as of the 2025\u201326 school year, and could see a charter school take classroom space rent-free under the new Schools of Hope rules. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a school that isn\u2019t even at 50% capacity, and those are our hard-earned taxpayer dollars that went to go build that building, we have a responsibility to ensure that we are utilizing it to its full capacity for our students,\u201d said bill sponsor Rep. Demi Busatta, R-Coral Gables, at a March 27 committee hearing.<\/p>\n

But Liz Barker, a school board member in Sarasota County where Mater submitted three requests to operate in schools, called the effort a \u201cblatant land grab\u201d and a \u201chostile takeover of community-owned property,\u201d speaking on Orange school board member Stephanie Vanos\u2019 podcast last week.<\/p>\n

Vanos shared similar concerns. \u201cI just don\u2019t know how parents and communities will stand for this once they see this happening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Scott Travis of the South Florida Sun Sentinel contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 21, 2025 at 8:20 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid a burgeoning statewide controversy over a new law easing the way for private groups to launch public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[113,114,266,115,139,141,140,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-13867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-education","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-headlines","14":"tag-orlando-news","15":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13867","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=13867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}