Hope schools grant Florida families a choice
Florida, under Gov. Ron DeSantis, is continuing the charge to reshape American education. This time, it is by accelerating a bold experiment in school choice. With the signing of SB 2510, the state further clears the path for “schools of hope,” a specialized class of charter schools aimed at serving students in chronically underperforming districts.
This is a huge win for the families of Florida, and of the school choice movement as a whole.
The Schools of Hope program, launched in 2017, was designed to offer high-quality alternatives to urban families with children trapped in failing public schools. Unlike standard charter authorization, Hope operators benefit from streamlined approval, facility grants, and performance incentives so long as they demonstrate proven academic rigor. They seek to break the monopoly of mediocrity in areas where the traditional system has failed.
This year’s legislative adjustment builds on what is already working. A 2023 study by Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) found that students in charter management organizations (CMOs) gained the equivalent of almost a month of reading time compared to peers in traditional public schools.