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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 website.

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

The district's Charter Office will host application orientation sessions at least once a 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 either March or October depending on staff availability and requests from organizations that have been received.

If you wish to attend one of these sessions, you may email the Charter Office at duvalcharter@duvalschools.org to express your interest. It is highly recommended that organizations attend an application orientation meeting prior to beginning work on an application. These sessions will include general information on the current charter environment and enrollment trends within Duval County which may influence organizational decisions related to the application.

Application orientation meetings will be held virtually via the Teams application.

The next application orientation session is currently scheduled for: