MDCPS Board Approves Expansion of Charter Schools: What Does That Mean For Us?
On April 22nd 2026, the Miami-Dade county school board approved an expansion of charter schools within the district. This was after a months-long negotiation between Success Academy, a New York based charter system, and the previous superintendent, Dr. Jose L. Dotres, in which plans of expansion were laid out.
This follows a nationwide trend of charter school systems being increasingly integrated into public school systems, usually by being given the reins of underperforming schools in order to improve statistics and performance
Among several improvements, these charter school systems highlight improved academic performance, lower student-teacher ratios, and an overall increase in the quality of education.
Despite these improvements, many parents, students, teachers, and politicians have taken issue with the expansion of charter schools. Citing a potential decline in the quality of public education, increased expenses, and further strain on co-located schools, these parties claim that charter schools are more trouble than they’re worth, and that they’re having an unproportional impact in several ways.
The worry of a potential decline in the quality of public education stems from the fact that funding for MDCPS has dropped significantly over the past 5 years, primarily due to a surge in the use of private school vouchers and a significant drop in enrollment.
From the 2025-2026 school year to the 2026-2027 school year alone, MDCPS has seen a historic drop in enrollment, almost 19,000 less according to district data shared with WLRN, a public media organization.
Among other reasons, this drop in enrollment is primarily caused by the recent exodus of families from the Miami-Dade area, due to both an increase in the cost of living and the anti-immigrant sentiment within.
This drop in funding has not gone unnoticed by students. Sophomore Isabella Figueroa stated in an interview that “Allocating resources for classrooms and getting students necessary supplies could impact the learning process due to limits,”said sophomore Isabella Figueroa.
In any case, this drop in enrollment has spread district funds extremely thin, and because the amount of funding that public schools receive depends primarily on how many students attend, many worry that higher quality charter schools will pull away a substantial amount of students from already struggling traditional public schools.
Additionally, due to the sparsity of charter schools within the district, usually only students who have greater resources, are high achieving, or from higher income backgrounds are able to attend charter schools.
This leaves traditional public schools with less funding, worse academic performance, and a greater concentration of underserved students, all while having to spend more for these underserved students and foot the static fixed costs of running a school.
The cost of charter schools themselves has also put significant strain on the district’s already tight budget. During the same meeting, the agenda item itself stated that the plan for the expansion of charter schools would incur significant costs onto the district, as the $700-dollars-a-student pledged by Success Academy wasn’t enough to cover running costs.
Also mentioned in the agenda item was that these new charter schools would be integrated into 5 existing public schools: Hialeah-Miami Lakes SHS, Homestead SHS, Miami Jackson SHS, North Miami SHS, and Westland-Hialeah SHS.
These 5 schools have faced the brunt of the enrollment drops at the secondary level, due to them serving immigrant communities and lower-income areas. As such, the plan approved aims to occupy the unused classrooms by operating elementary schools out of them.
On paper, this plan makes the most out of a declining situation. It provides high quality education that surpasses nearby elementary schools, occupies otherwise empty classrooms, and helps cover fixed costs that these schools increasingly cannot afford.
However, in schools where the co-location program is being implemented, flags have already been raised concerning the impact it might have on both existing students and new students.
Luisa Santos, the board member who represents the district in which Homestead Senior High School is in, stated in an interview with the Miami Times that “ On paper it may look like we have the seats, but in reality…you’re doubling and tripling up some of those highest need students into environments that frankly will become very chaotic,” in reference to students with disabilities.
Essentially, by co-locating, both the charter school and the existing school would experience an influx of students who may have varying levels of special needs and disabilities, and providing the necessary support and suitable environment needed to provide the highest quality of education possible may be a challenge.
Safety may also be a challenge for those co-locating. Due to the fact that the charter schools will be located within the existing high school, albeit as separated as possible, such as a specific floor, wing, and building,designated only for the charter school and off-limits to the high school, facilities such as gymnasiums & cafeterias, common areas such as hallways and outdoor spaces, and dropoff and pickup points will have to be shared.
Sharing these spaces could create confusing and unsafe conditions for the younger grades, especially during passing periods, mornings, and afternoons.
Sebastian Santiago, a student at Westland-Hialeah SHS, stated in an interview with the Miami Times that he fears high schools will be running into first graders in the hallways. His fears are valid, as differences in level of maturity and sheer size may cause many conflicts and incidents to occur.
“Having little elementary schoolers in the same space as high school students doesn’t seem like a good idea, and if I was the parent of an elementary-aged child, I wouldn’t like it,” says Dixie Cedeno, a parent of an MDCPS student. (Translated from Spanish)
Whether or not the integration of charter schools into MDCPS will turn out fine is for the future to decide, but as it currently stands, a series of pressing problems have cropped up, potentially impacting the plan’s viability if they’re not addressed soon.
