State wants to know about school districts’ unused land, bill says

Public school districts could be required to report how much vacant land they own, according to a new bill advancing through a House subcommittee this week.

One Democrat feared HB 1147 might be the 2026 version of Schools of Hope, which passed last year and allows charter schools to gain access to rent-free space inside schools with low enrollment. Charter schools are now trying to take advantage of it at potentially hundreds of schools.

HB 1147 advanced with a 12-3 partisan vote during the Education Administration Subcommittee Thursday.

Under his bill, Rep. Danny Nix Jr. said public school districts would be required to document all their unused, empty land and report back to the Florida Department of Education (FDOE).

“I want to be very clear, this bill only speaks to vacant, unimproved lands owned by school districts. This bill does not speak to any facilities, school buildings, or any assets used to educate school children,” said Nix, a Port Charlotte Republican who works as a commercial Realtor.

He added his bill would not apply to districts’ future land acquisitions.

Nix said the state currently has no inventory of districts’ land holds, which is hard for “future planning, future opportunity uses.”

“The goal of this legislation is to have one place where all vacant land can be accounted for,” Nix said. “It lets us know at the state where we’re sitting at.”

Democrats didn’t buy it. They pointed out people can already make public record requests to find out more on the districts’ unused spaces. Nix argued his bill streamlines the reporting process for the public and the state.

“I’m a little concerned about this,” said Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Boca Raton Democrat. “The fact that we passed legislation sort of late in the night last Session on Schools of Hope. I’m really suspicious myself that this is an inventory for vacant land to be given away to charter schools or other types of schools.”

HB 1147’s original language was filed targeting school districts with three years of declining enrollment and said charter schools should get first dibs on the school districts’ vacant land. Charter schools are publicly-funded schools that are independently run by private charter operatorss separated from the traditional school district.

“A school district that owns vacant land must have an agreement to construct a school on such land with a developer or contractor by July 1, 2027. If such an agreement is not in place by July 1, 2027, the school district has 60 days to offer the vacant land to all charter school operators within the school district,” the original bill filed last month said. “Charter school operators have 120 days after receiving notice of an offer from the school district to submit a proposal for constructing a charter school on the vacant land.”

That would have set a 60-day timeline for school districts to determine “the most advantageous proposal” and the requirement to choose one of them.

But the original HB 1147 was changed with a proposed committee substitute so the new version of the bill debated Thursday was similar to a Senate companion bill (SB 824) filed by Sen. Keith Truenow.

HB 1147 now says school districts would be require to document their vacant lands’ acreage, parcel ID number, address, date of acquisition, current use if any, fair market value and market value.

DOE would take that information to create a statewide report.

Monroe County School Board member Dr. Sue Woltanski  also agreed the state doesn’t need a registry like this.

“All you have to do is call the school district and we can tell people,” she said during public comment. “We have a book with all our properties.”

She also warned there is often a reason why her district holds onto land, such as if someone donated property for educational use or if there is a U.S. Department of Education lien on it.