Nearly 300 Hillsborough County students lost their school placements less than a week before classes begin Monday, Aug. 10, after four charter schools surrendered their contracts and shut down.

The school board voted unanimously Tuesday, Aug. 4, to formally terminate the charters for Victory Charter School Tampa (K-5), Victory Charter School Tampa 6-12, Legacy Preparatory Academy and The Collaboratory Preparatory Academy. Three of the four cited financial pressures and enrollment declines; the fourth closed after its founder determined the school's mission had been fulfilled.

Two of the schools shared a campus in Riverview, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Of the 292 displaced students, 131 had been placed in neighborhood public schools as of the Aug. 4 meeting. The district said it is still working with the remaining families. Parents seeking help can visit hillsboroughschools.org/enrollment.

Enrollment freefall

The numbers tell the story. Victory Charter School Tampa had just 59 students last year, down from 292 during the 2021-22 school year. Its companion campus for grades 6-12 dropped from 155 students to 35 in a single year and carried a negative fund balance exceeding $49,000. Both schools earned "A" grades despite the financial strain.

Legacy Preparatory Academy, which opened in 2003, had 55 students remaining, down from 136 during the 2022-23 school year, with a negative fund balance of $823.

The Collaboratory Preparatory Academy was the outlier. Founded in 2017 by former state Rep. Trey Traviesa, it had growing enrollment and a positive fund balance. Traviesa said he chose to close because the East Tampa neighborhood schools that were rated "D" and "F" when he opened are now mostly "A" and "B" rated.

"The school district has done such a good job of improving schools in that area," Traviesa said at the Aug. 4 meeting. "We saw a need, we met a need."

Board members raise alarm

School board chairperson Karen Perez said she was "stunned" by the closures, noting that some of the shuttered schools served 100% economically disadvantaged and largely minority students.

Angela Weary-Crooks, the district's director of charter schools, told the board that smaller independent charters that once had waiting lists of 300-plus students are now down to about 100, squeezed by competition from private schools and homeschooling. Larger corporate-managed charter operators, she said, can pool money across schools.

Board vice chair Nadia Combs said inadequate state funding, lack of oversight and enrollment competition are destabilizing the charter system Florida has spent years promoting. She called for stronger state-level safeguards, saying choice is not meaningful if a school can become financially unstable and families learn too late that it cannot remain open.

Board member Jessica Vaughn said the situation "hurts our students and our families that have absolutely no stability," pointing to both insufficient enrollment and insufficient funding as causes. Board member Patti Rendon noted that charter schools face fewer regulations than traditional public schools, including no required fund balance and no mandated retirement or insurance benefits for teachers.

The schools gave families a 60-day notice before closing. Hillsborough County Public Schools earned its first "A" district grade since 2014 heading into the new school year.