A Miami-based charter school operator has filed notices to occupy three Sarasota County campuses: Brookside Middle School, Emma E. Booker Elementary, and Oak Park School, a K-12 campus serving students with disabilities. Mater Academy Inc., which is linked to the for-profit management company Academica, submitted the filings Wednesday. District officials say the move is premature because the amended Department of Education rule that enables it doesn’t take effect until November 11.
The filings are the first local test of Florida’s expanded “Schools of Hope” law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in June. The law now allows charter operators to claim space at any public school with available room, not just underperforming ones. Under the rules, Sarasota County Schools would remain responsible for costs like maintenance, custodial services, nursing, food service, and transportation at those campuses. Mater says it plans to open at all three sites in August 2027.
The district has 20 calendar days to object on grounds of “material impracticability” once the process formally begins. Superintendent Terry Connor and school board members have pushed back sharply, and NAACP Sarasota chapter president Trevor Harvey questioned why a historically Black school and a disability-serving campus were selected. The news comes weeks after the district proposed closing Wilkinson Elementary to strengthen enrollment elsewhere and stave off charter takeovers, a plan that drew heavy opposition from parents.
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