New York charter school operator is coming to Miami as Gov. DeSantis pushes school choice

Billionaire Citadel CEO Ken Griffin says he is giving $50 million to help Success Academy Charter School expand in Miami as Florida leaders push to expand school choice.

“We are the leading state for school choice in the entire United States of America,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference held at Florida International University as he spoke alongside Griffin and Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz.

“We have 1.4 million students that are utilizing some type of school choice option in order to realize their dreams.”

Success Academy operates 59 charter schools for more than 20,000 students in New York City. Expanding to Florida, Moskowitz said her school will help “the poorest and most vulnerable in Florida.”

The Miami Herald reported that she plans to open three to five schools in Miami by the 2027-28 school year and enroll 8,000 to 10,000 students within five years.

“We’ve got to get every single child to excellence,” Moskowitz said, getting emotional as she added, “I’m not used to being welcomed” as she has been in Florida after facing backlash from Democrats in New York.

Charter schools are privately run but funded with public taxpayer dollars to give alternative options for parents.

But not everybody welcomes Moskowitz openly in Florida.

Public education advocates are warning that districts are taking financial hits and suffering steep enrollment declines because of school choice and the rise of charter and private schools.

The Florida Department of Education is now loosening restrictions to allow charter schools to use space at traditional public schools and require public schools to provide custodial work, maintenance, school safety, food service, nursing and student transportation for charter schools.

“Families deserve strong, stable public schools. This new rule allows charter schools to commandeer public classrooms, cafeterias, and gyms — spaces critical to meet the needs of our communities — with no accountability, oversight, or input,” said Mina Hosseini, Executive Director of P.S. 305, on behalf of the Florida Coalition for Thriving Public Schools.

“It confers squatters’ rights to private operators at the expense of our students and educators, and jeopardizes the future of our neighborhood schools.”

DeSantis struck back at critics and argued he wasn’t anti-public schools as he said the state’s per pupil funding has increased annually for school districts under his administration.

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