JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A charter school operation notified Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) of its plans to use spaces in over two dozen district schools for its own use, for free.

Action News Jax got a copy of all 25 letters sent by Mater Academy to DCPS through a public records request.

The letters show Mater Academy’s intent to open inside 25 of the district’s schools that are “underused/vacant/surplus district facilities.” It wants to begin classes at the start of the 2027 school year.

The letters also show the number of students they plan to have enrolled for each school in the next 5 years – the total for all 25 schools comes out to over 11,000 students.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE

Duval County Schools get almost $9,000 per student in state funding. That means Mater Academy could take away nearly 100 million dollars from traditional public schools if its enrollment goals are reached.

In September, the Florida Department of Education signed off on an expansion of its charter school rules to allow certain charter schools, known as Schools of Hope, to “co-locate,” or move into, any public school in districts across Florida, for free, that have unused space within their buildings.

“Every public school family and taxpayer should be livid about the takeover of our community assets and our public schools,” said Katie Hathaway, a DCPS parent and school advocate.

Hathaway has kids enrolled in the School district. She tells me she’s worried about what this means for public school students.

“To allow these private charter operators to come into our public schools and use our facilities at no costs is asinine,” said Hathaway. “It’s stealing resources away from every child in our public education system.”

Most of the schools listed in the 25 letters are elementary schools.

Of the 25 schools named by Mater Academy, four of them are already closed, and most of them are elementary schools. Of the 21 schools that are still operating, more than 75% of them are located in school districts 4 and 5, which contain Northwest Jacksonville and a good portion of the northside.

“I know that there’s going to be some financial drain,” said DCPS District 4 School Board Member Darryl Willie.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

Willie says he doesn’t think this will help the district.

“Especially with where we are in our facilities, planning with what we’re trying to do with consolidations and making sure that every single student has a great option. It really causes extra confusion for our families and parents right now,” said Willie.

Darryl Willie says he looks forward to having discussions with his fellow school board members and other state lawmakers about how this new rule could impact public school districts.

We reached out to DCPS for a statement about this, and a spokesperson said:

“Charter operators have expressed interest in our DCPS campuses, spanning elementary, middle, and high schools. No decisions have been made, and we are carefully reviewing these requests in accordance with state law.”

Action News Jax told you this month when Mater Academy sent a letter to St. Johns County Schools informing them of wanting to operate in one of their district’s schools.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Action News Jax Top Stories