• Starting a Charter School

    Non-profit organizations interested in starting a charter school must develop a charter school application and submit it to the district for approval by the Duval County School Board. If you are planning to submit an application for a new charter school, it must be submitted using the latest version of the State Board of Education approved Model Florida Charter School Application (Form IEPC-M1, Form IEPC-V1, or Form IEPC-HPS1).  The application is available on the State's .

    Duval County Public Schools requests that all parties interested in applying to start a charter school, submit a letter of intent at least 30 days prior to the submission of an application. The contents of the letter of intent are included in the timelines, processes, and procedures document. All additional application instructions specific to Duval County Public Schools are included in the timelines document as well. Applicants are requested to ensure full understanding of the included requirements as failure to follow these directions could result in the application being rejected.

    Application Orientation Sessions

    It is the intent of the Charter Office to host two application orientation sessions each calendar year. In the application orientation sessions, the Charter Office will review the Duval County Public Schools submission requirements, as well as, provide a general overview of the Model Florida Charter School Application. These sessions will generally be held in March and October.

    If you wish to attend one of these sessions, you may email the Charter Department at DuvalCharter@DuvalSchools.org a list of individuals that will be attending on behalf of the applicant. Along with the list of names, the Charter Department will need the individual’s email address and their affiliation with the applicant. A calendar invite will be sent to the email addresses included in the request.

    Currently, the Charter Office will be hosting these events virtually via the Teams application. Once the Covid-19 pandemic has reached a point where face-to-face meetings will be possible, the location will be posted next to the date for the orientation meeting, and included in the invite. For face-to-face orientation meetings, the Charter Department requests that applicants plan to limit participation to no more than four individuals from the organization.

    The upcoming orientation session is currently scheduled for: