Three new charter schools want to open in the Lee County (Fla.) district in August 2020.
The Fort Myers News-Press reports that the three proposed schools would be added to 24 charter schools already operating in the county.
Two of the proposed charters—Palm River Charter High School and Sunfire High of Lee County—plan to target high school dropouts and students at risk of dropping out of high school.
The third—The Collegiate School of Fort Myers—would be a K-8 school that wants to target minority and economically disadvantaged students who now attend low-performing schools.
Florida had 655 charter schools during the 2017-18 school year.
The group pushing to open Palm River Charter High operates three other schools in the district. The other applicants are new to Lee County.
Sunshine Academy of Oakland Park, the applicant that wants to open Sunfire High, operates two charter high schools in Broward County. Collegiate Academic Enterprises of Fort Myers, the group trying to open Collegiate School of Fort Myers, also hopes to open charters schools in Pinellas, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
School district administrators are recommending approval of the three schools. The Lee County School Board is expected to decide this week on the applications.
The most recent data shows 11,255 students are enrolled in charter schools in Lee County. A year, there were 11,614 charter students.
The student population at charter schools ranges from a low of 10 students at Athenian Academy Charter School to a high of 1,288 students at Bonita Springs Charter School.
