The Schools of Hope Playbook — Securing a Home for the McCartney Academy

I

The Opening

§ The Door Reopened

For the first time, Florida law puts community-serving schools first in line for surplus public-school property. Securing a permanent home for the McCartney Academy in Liberty City is no longer a hope — it is a navigable legal path. This playbook turns the 2025 statutes and the State of Florida's own facilities inventory into a concrete acquisition plan.

And the inventory delivered the headline before we asked: the State's own report lists Charles R. Drew Middle School as vacant — the exact site of our District-2 proposal.

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July 1, 2025 — laws took effect

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Vacant schools in our target belt

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Schools of Hope annual funding floor

II

The Legal Engine

¶ Five Levers

The 2025 legislative session passed four aligned bills. Each is a specific statutory lever we can pull to bypass traditional municipal hurdles.

Lever 01 · HB 443

Right of First Refusal

Before a district may sell, lease, or transfer any school property, it must first offer it to public charter schools for educational use.

Unlocks First claim on surplus buildings.

Lever 02 · HB 443

Ad Valorem Exemption & Reuse

Any facility housing an approved charter school is exempt from property taxes; libraries, churches, museums, and community buildings may host a school under existing zoning.

Unlocks Lower carrying cost, flexible siting.

Lever 03 · HB 1255

Land-Use Preemption

Local building, site, capacity, and operational rules that single out charter schools are void unless applied uniformly to all public schools.

Unlocks No rezoning battle.

Lever 04 · HB 1105

Conversion Pathways

Parent-initiated conversion and municipal "job-engine charter" routes open existing schools to community-led, workforce-focused reuse; districts must share infrastructure surtax revenue.

Unlocks A community route in, plus operating revenue.

Lever 05 · SB 2510

The Funding Floor

The state statutory framework guarantees the Schools of Hope capital program is held at a constant, non-discretionary funding minimum.

Unlocks A dedicated capital pool of $25M+ annually.

The door the highway closed, the law has reopened.

III

The Inventory

§ Real Targets

Grounded in the Florida Inventory of School Houses (FISH) Level-of-Service Report for Miami-Dade, dated March 6, 2025.

"Vacant" is the State's own flag; "% used" and "surplus seats" are its verified utilization figures.

Facility	Status / % Used	Surplus Seats	Why It Matters
Charles R. Drew Middle	Vacant	— (1,440 dining cap.)	Primary target — the exact site of the District-2 pitch
Westview Middle	Vacant	—	Second vacant building in the belt
Booker T. Washington Sr High	49% used	~1,065	The school McCartney helped rebuild — symbolic anchor, co-location capacity
Poinciana Park Elementary	20% used	~607	Most underused in the belt
Liberty City Elementary	28% used	~597	In-name-and-place
Brownsville Middle	34% used	~899	Large surplus, adjacent community
Orchard Villa Elementary	37% used	~454	Conversion candidate
Miami Edison Senior High	38% used	~1,013	Major surplus capacity
Paul Laurence Dunbar K-8	38% used	~485	Conversion candidate
Lillie C. Evans K-8	39% used	~393	Conversion candidate
Georgia Jones-Ayers Middle	42% used	~669	Conversion candidate

Honest read: FISH utilization and vacancy are verified facts, but "underused" in FISH is not the same as a district's formal declaration of surplus. The right of first refusal triggers when the district moves to sell, lease, or transfer. So the two vacant buildings (Drew Middle, Westview) are the cleanest reuse; the underused ones are conversion and co-location candidates.

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Identified vacant / underused candidates

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Surplus seats at BTW Senior High

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Vacant building at the exact pitch site

IV

The Playbook

¶ Six Moves

A non-linear, multi-front campaign to secure the site. Speed and statutory alignment are our tactical advantages.

Stand up standing

Establish the McCartney Academy's status as an approved public/charter school — the absolute prerequisite to both the right of first refusal and the ad valorem exemption. (In development — the gating step.)

Claim Charles R. Drew Middle

File written interest in the vacant building; track and trigger the right of first refusal on the District's disposition of the property.

Run the conversion route in parallel (HB 1105)

Pursue the parent-initiated and/or municipal "job-engine charter" pathway for a community-led, workforce-focused academy.

Invoke the protections

Apply the ad valorem exemption (HB 443) and the land-use preemption (HB 1255) — bypass municipal rezoning fights entirely for institutional reuse.

Stack capital funding

Stack Schools of Hope program funds (the $25M floor), HB 1105 surtax revenue-sharing, and philanthropic/grant capital for acquisition and buildout.

Build the integrated ecosystem

Establish the school on one side; the Lotus Gate Forum business center on or adjacent to the site — welding education and economic capacity together.

We are not asking for a favor. We are exercising a right.

V

Risks & the Honest Read

§ Managed Continuously

Strategic success requires intellectual honesty. We have identified four primary operational risks that must be managed continuously.

Timing & Control FISH status is not a formal surplus declaration; the final property disposition timeline remains within the District's bureaucratic discretion.
Gating Prerequisite Approved-school status is the hard gate through which all statutory claims must pass, and we are currently early in that process.
Competitive Pressure Every public charter operator in Florida holds the same right of first refusal — our structural edge is speed, deep community legitimacy, and the McCartney-Drew historical lineage.
Rigorous Diligence We must verify current statute text daily and evaluate the building's physical/environmental condition comprehensively prior to any formal filing.

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Gating prerequisite: approved-school status

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Parallel operational paths run simultaneously

VI

The Ask

¶ Four Partners

To execute this playbook flawlessly, we require the immediate alignment of four critical partners:

Legal & Charter Counsel To fast-track and secure the vital approved-school status prerequisite.
Facilities & Real-Estate Partner For the engineering feasibility, architectural planning, and structural conversion of the Drew Middle facility.
Philanthropic Capital Partners To bridge early capital requirements between acquisition and state funding reimbursement.
District Engagement Direct lines of coordination with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the District 2 office under Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall.

Architectural blueprint of the Lotus Gate Forum business center and McCartney Academy ecosystem layout — Integrated Academic & Economic Infrastructure Blueprint

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Site

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Right

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Window