Success Academy (originally called Harlem Success Academy) wil open five charter schools in Miami. The board had the paperwork for only one day, but were pressured to make a decision or have the decision made by a special magistrate.
SA is run by Eva Moskowitz, a former New York City Council member. She has nearly 60 charter schools in NYC. The chain is amply funded by billionaires, including several Wall Street titans.
Her debut in Miami is facilitated by a gift of $50 million by billionaire Ken Griffin.
Under a law passed recently, SA is authorized to move into any school with empty classrooms. In NYC, this is called co-location. It inevitably creates bad feelings between the public school and the charter school, because the charter school–especially SA–is better funded than the public school and has better everything.
Moskowitz hopes to enroll 8,000-10,000 in Miami and then expand into other parts of Florida.
Board member Luisa Santos, who represents the district Homestead Senior High is in, expressed concern for what the co-location would mean for students with disabilities.
“ On paper it may look like we have the seats, but in reality, once I started looking at how you implement this year one and year two, at the specific school in my district, the reality would be that you’re doubling and tripling up some of those highest need students into environments that frankly will become very chaotic,” Santos said.
SA is a “no-excuses” charter chain, which has strict rules about student behavior. It retains the power to oust students who don’t conform to its rules.
It has been controversial in NYC for multiple reasons. For high student attrition; for high teacher turnover; for accepting only students with the mildest disabilities; for ousting students who can’t comply or keep up; for bringing students to legislative meetings at the city or state levels to lobby for more funding for charter schools; for Moskowitz’s compensation (close to $1 million a year including bonuses); and for using a powerful, wealthy campaign PAC to support candidates who back charter expansion.
The students who survive 12-13 years of SA get very high test scores.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Unlike in NYC where they get co-located space in schools for free, at least in FL under the new law, Success and other charter schools have to pay $700 per student for the space, though this is “insufficient to cover all proportional costs the District will incur,” the agenda item read.. https://www.wlrn.org/education/2026-04-24/success-academy-charter-miami-dade-school-board
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Don’t give the Florida legislature any ideas.
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It sounds like the $700 per student will be returned to the district, but I hope it does not end up in the general fund. As noted, it still does not compensate for all the expenses the district will incur as a result of colocation.
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Two schools in my community—Holmes Middle School and Valley Academy of Arts & Sciences—are currently fighting a proposed co-location by Magnolia Public Schools. Parents, teachers, and students have made it clear that they do not want this to happen. Their concern is simple and valid: there is no truly “unused” space. Classrooms and facilities are already being used for vital arts and science programs that will be displaced.
If this co-location moves forward, teachers will lose their classrooms and be forced to rove from room to room. That reality directly contradicts the claim that there is ample space available. It isn’t just misleading—it’s false.
Community members from both schools have attended Magnolia board meetings to voice these concerns, only to be met with indifference. While families, students, and educators speak passionately about the impact on their schools, Magnolia board members are disengaged, looking down at their phones rather than listening.
This isn’t collaboration—it’s invasion.
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Good grief! The Magnolia charter school is part of a chain owned by Gulen, the Turkish imam who lives in Pennsylvania.
Google Gulen charter schools. Many scandals associated with them.
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Actually, Fetullah Gulen died at 83 on 10/20/24 in a Pennsylvania hospital.
I couldn’t find information as to who is now running the schools.
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LAUSD moved to shut down two Magnolia schools over serious concerns that large amounts of public money were flowing to a closely connected vendor, raising clear questions about conflicts of interest. The court didn’t close the schools, but required them to sever that relationship. Only in America!
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