An award-winning South Texas charter school network and the group behind an unprecedented rural North Florida turnaround could soon become Florida’s first official “Schools of Hope” operators.
IDEA Public Schools and Somerset Academy charter schools both applied to become Hope Operators. Department of Education staff found they met the requirements. The state Board of Education is expected to vote on their applications when it meets Tuesday in LaBelle.
Hope Operators gain access to a streamlined application process if they want to open new schools in the vicinity of an existing public school with persistent D and F grades. They can get low-cost loans to help pay for facilities, and grants to help pay for things like extended school days.
The Schools of Hope program was a priority of outgoing Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who wanted to recruit more nationally regarded charter school operators to low-income areas.
IDEA is a fast-growing operation, started in South Texas and now spreading across the Lone Star State and into Louisiana. It won the national Broad Prize for charter school excellence in 2016, and used the money to help undocumented immigrant children attend college. It qualified as a Hope Operator because it’s received financial backing from a federal program to encourage the growth of high-quality charter schools, as well as through the Charter School Growth Fund.
Somerset qualified as a Hope Operator because of its turnaround work in Jefferson County. The South Florida nonprofit runs schools in mostly urban areas of Florida. It works closely with the management company Academica, which also runs Doral, Pinecrest and Mater Academy charter schools.
Both organizations have a positive effect on students’ reading and math scores, according to a recent national study of charter school networks.
