Duval school district officials are “having meetings” with members of the state legislative delegation and will travel to Tallahassee this month to “engage with them privately in their offices” about changing the Schools of Hope charter school program, Duval Superintendent Chris Bernier said Monday. 

At a town hall meeting at Riverside High School Monday, Bernier flipped through a slide deck that showed districtwide enrollment is down — something he partly attributed to a declining birthrate. 

“You have enrollment issues. And it’s not just about taking kids from charters. There’s less kids coming,” Bernier said. “All these things are starting to pile on your superintendent, and he’s trying to figure out a way to navigate through this.”

Mater Academy notices invalid

A South Florida charter school company notified Duval Schools too soon of its plan to open more than two dozen schools within district buildings, a district spokesperson tells Jacksonville Today.

Mater Academy sent 25 notices to Duval — as well as dozens more to other districts in the state — in early October, but Duval says it “will not be able to accept any notices” until next week.

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“The new rule prohibits notices from being submitted until 14 days after it takes effect, which was Oct. 28,” spokesperson Laureen Ricks wrote in an email. “That means we won’t begin accepting notices until Nov. 11.”

There is nothing preventing Mater Academy from submitting new notices after that. 

Mater Academy’s invalid notices said it plans to open what are called Schools of Hope — a special category of publicly funded, privately operated charter schools intended to serve areas with struggling traditional public schools. 

Updates to the Schools of Hope program the state Legislature passed this year now require districts to allow Schools of Hope to open within district-owned buildings — even those currently in use. 

Noting the district is “already suffering financially,” one town hall attendee asked Bernier, “If a school is co-habitating with us, paying no bills, and they are filling up the school — financially, how is that sustainable for our school system? It would be different if those bodies brought money to the district, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.”

Bernier did not mention Mater Academy by name Monday. 

Bernier said the law allows districts to project enrollment one year at a time, and so could in theory adjust co-located schools’ enrollment or location based on expectations.

“There’s a lot of details in this that have to be worked through,” Bernier said. “And I think…raising those questions in a calm demeanor, asking, “Have you thought this through? What does it mean when a school building gets occupied and we’re trying to recruit more kids back to it but now we don’t have the seats to offer them if they choose to come?’” 

Attendees asked him how the Schools of Hope program changes will affect Duval. Many of the buildings Mater Academy identified for its co-located schools are in District 5 with Riverside.

“If a school building has capacity…then the school district must, according to the way the law is written right at this moment, if a charter school applies for that space, we must provide space within that school building to co-locate,” Bernier said. “They pay no rent, they pay no public utilities.”

He told the crowd that the legislation doesn’t take effect until 2027 — something Bernier said buys the district time to convince state lawmakers to change the new rule.

“Yes, it’s a reality. It’s not real yet here, but it is coming, and our team is working on it,” Bernier said. “We are working quietly because we always think that’s the best way to do it for us. Quietly with our (state legislative) delegation.”

District 5 School Board rep Reggie Blount said he has “had some conversations” with some legislators about the changes and found “some of them weren’t aware how complicated the problem would be, how problematic it would be.” 

“I would encourage you to (contact)…Angie Nixon, Kim Daniels, Tracie Davis, Kiyan Michael, Wyman Duggan…Clay Yarborough,” Blount said. “These are some of your state legislators that you might want to give a call, because hearing from the public, not just us, but hearing from the public does open their ears when you’re talking about your schools, you’re talking about your concerns about these organizations, these companies coming in and using public school spaces.” 

Bernier said the district would “find out some answers.”

”This thing came late in the session. It came as part of a larger big bill and we’re hopeful that they’ll listen,” he said. 

However, School Board member Cindy Pearson said during Tuesday’s School Board meeting that a lobbyist working with Duval Schools told her the Legislature is unlikely to repeal the Schools of Hope law so soon after it was first passed. But, there is room to shape it into something less devastating for district-run schools, she said, and so encouraged parents to talk with their board reps about amendments that would make it more palatable.

Updated: This story was updated after it was published to include Pearson’s comment.