Parents at an Orange County elementary school overwhelmingly approved a charter school conversion plan that would turn a traditional public school into one run by a non-profit, according to a vote tally released late Thursday.
The vote count, done at the school, showed 85% of Orange Center Elementary School households that cast ballots approved of converting the school to a K-8 charter school focused on STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The school would eventually add about 300 more students to a campus that now has about 440.
The parent vote, which is required under Florida law, comes after the Orange County School Board approved the conversion in October.
Lift Orlando, a nonprofit working to revitalize west Orlando neighborhoods, will run the charter school in partnership with Orange County Public Schools.
Lift Orlando has described its work with Orange Center, which sits in those neighborhoods near Camping World Stadium, as “first of its kind public-private partnership.” The conversion, it said, will make use of the flexibility granted to charter schools — public schools mostly run by private groups and freed from some state school rules — and public school funding.
Orange Center Elementary sits in a mostly low-income west Orlando neighborhood, one where Lift Orlando is already working to provide health and social services and improve housing. School leaders have said the partnership should offer more resources to disadvantaged students than a traditional public school can provide.
Unique Brooks, whose daughter Ryan is an Orange Center first grader, pointed to Lift Orlando’s resources as a reason she voted in favor of the conversion.
Brooks was among the group of about 50 parents and children who came to the school Thursday evening to watch the ballots — cast earlier in the week — be counted.
The move to become a charter school was “very exciting,” Brooks said, adding that she likes the coming focus on STEM subjects.
“It’s needed in today’s society, especially given the direction towards technology,” she said.
When the “yes” votes passed a majority threshold, Superintendent Maria Vazquez stood and hugged Erin Albert, the school’s principal, who supported the conversion.
After the vote, Vazquez said Orange Center’s partnership with Lift Orlando, which emphasizes “cradle to career” resources, should be emulated at other schools.
“It’s not a school, it’s part of the community, and that’s what we want to see with all of our schools,” she said.
The conversion will add one middle school grade a year starting in August 2027 so that the school that now serves children through fifth grade will eventually serve all the middle school grades.
Mark Shamley, Lift Orlando’s vice president of community impact, said the parent vote was just the beginning of the process. The organization takes their responsibility to the school’s families “very seriously,” he said.
Lift Orlando will create a separate board to oversee the school, one comprised of parents, community members, Lift Orlando representatives and OCPS representatives.
“This is not something that we’re going to be doing to them, but something we’re going to be doing with the parents,” Shamley said.
