Jacob Ogles
Despite a bill to expand Schools of Hope dying in the regularly scheduled Session, budgets in overtime repeatedly mention the program.
A day after Senate appropriators agreed to direct $6 million toward funding privately run charter schools in direct competition with struggling traditional schools, both chambers unrolled budget provisions that could structure funding long term.
The latest PreK-12 Education Appropriations proviso includes language setting the funding for Schools of Hope in reserve, then allowing the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) to submit budget amendments calling to release the dollars. Those would be available to eligible recipients who submit detailed disbursement data, including dollar amounts and a description of how the money will be used.
The provision requires a detailed spending plan that identifies existing or new Schools of Hope. Applications for the coming year could be submitted no later than Aug. 1 this year.
The Senate agreed to the language first proposed by the House.
Meanwhile, a new House offer for the PreK-12 Appropriations conforming bill includes new language about Schools of Hope as well. The lower chamber calls for a transfer of funds from the Schools of Hope Revolving Loan Program to the Schools of Hope Program.
The Revolving Loan Program has sent out some $98.9 million in payments to Hope operators, according to FDOE reporting. That most recently included sending about $10.5 million to KIPP Miami’s 79th Street location and more than $2.3 million to the RCMA Mulberry Community Academy in Polk County.
Schools of Hope were first approved by state lawmakers in 2017, when a law allowed the establishment of the charter schools to compete with failing traditional schools. But the latest House language also looks to redefine failure as well.
Language introduced in the House offer calls for revising the definition of “persistently low performing schools and schools of hope,” along with changing who can sponsor a School of Hope. The proposal “allows for colocation and district reporting of students for capital outlay funding” and “provides additional reporting requirements for schools of hope operators.”
The House Education & Employment Committee and the House Education Administration Subcommittee, during the Regular Session, put forward a committee bill (HB 1115) that would have required surtax revenue shared with school districts to be redirected to charter schools, including Schools of Hope.
The bill passed in the House on an 84-19 vote, with only Democratic votes against it. However, the Senate declined to take up the bill as part of an education package that included the controversial language. It passed its version unanimously and kicked it back to the House, which then again had a party-line vote to put the original language, including the Schools of Hope provisions, back in place.
But amid a failure to reach a budget deal, the bill was withdrawn from consideration on May 3 and died with all policy bills at the scheduled end of Session.
Now, however, it appears support for Schools of Hope has continued in the budget process on the House side, and the Senate has adopted some funding and language sent by the lower chamber already.
