Lee County school board votes to give Fort Myers Beach elementary school for charter school

After more than a year and a half from when flooding after Hurricane Milton led to the School District of Lee County shuttering Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, the school board on Tuesday approved an arrangement struck between the administration and Town of Fort Myers Beach Manager Will McKannay to give the town the school.

Under the terms of the arrangement, the Town of Fort Myers Beach would have to open the school as a charter school within three years or it would be given back to the school district. The town would also be required to provide the school board a work plan outlining the scope, cost and timeline of improvements within 120 days of the agreement’s effective date.

If the agreement is approved by the Town of Fort Myers Beach Council, it would spell the end of Fort Myers Beach Elementary School as a public institution after more than 80 years as a public school. The historic school is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The proposed agreement ratified by the school board offers the town no funds to repair or replace the elementary school, as the town’s leaders had been seeking since a mediation session in November at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church. The town will need to raise funds to repair and operate the school as a charter school as the state’s formula for funding charter schools would not be enough to cover those expenses.

The offer from the school board follows six months of off and on negotiations between McKannay and School District of Lee County Deputy Superintendent Dr. Ken Savage in which the administration pushed a hard line of offering the town no money in exchange for the school property. The town has sought seed money to be able to repair the existing historic school, or build a new school. The school district never made the necessary repairs to reopen the school after Hurricane Milton. The school district, instead, only made basic stabilization repairs. The district received multiple cost estimates on what it would take to reopen the school, ranging from a little more than $1 million to more than $8 million.

Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers lauded the school board’s vote.

We are very excited with the School Board’s decision to move this process forward and look forward to continuing to work through the language of the agreement in a way that best positions both sides for long-term success.

At this stage, it is still too early to know what the actual hard costs will be until we are able to gain full access to the current school facilities and complete a more detailed evaluation. That said, Town staff has been proactively working to gather as much information as possible so we can be prepared should this opportunity ultimately move forward.

There are still many discussions to be had regarding operational structure, long-term funding, facility improvements, and what role potential partners may play in the future operation of the school. Those conversations will continue publicly as more information becomes available.

We’d welcome additional support from the School District and State if available, but the most important thing right now is to keep momentum moving in a positive direction.

I remain confident that our community will rally together, as it has time and time again, to help preserve one of the most cherished institutions on Fort Myers Beach.

The negotiations over the school followed a conflict resolution mediation session between town councilmembers and the school district’s administrations in a Bonita Springs church back in November. At that meeting, Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers began to question the school district over how it used FEMA funds and a state loan after Hurricane Ian, but was told by the mediator not to go into those specifics. Town officials and elementary school parents have raised questions about whether the school district moved funds intended for the Fort Myers Beach Elementary School after Hurricane Ian to other schools, and/or used FEMA funds to pay back a state loan.

At the end of the conflict resolution meeting in November, Allers requested the school district give the town the elementary school and $12 million. The school district’s administration steadfastly said throughout the negotiation period that they had no funds to offer the town, and have since forecasted an operating deficit of $92 million for the school district. The school district has a budget of $2.9 billion. The elementary school operated under a budget of about $1.5 million before students at the school were moved to San Carlos Park Elementary School after Hurricane Milton, and this past year to Heights Elementary in Fort Myers.

School board member Melissa Giovanelli called the agreement “long overdue.” Giovanelli said “we do value and care about the community.” Giovanelli said she looked forward to “helping and assisting” the Fort Myers Beach community in getting the school reopened. “We support Fort Myers Beach.”

School board member Samuel Fisher said it would be “fiscally irresponsible” to continue operating Fort Myers Beach Elementary School. The school board voted unanimously to approve of the interlocal agreement.

Within 120 days of the agreement’s effective date, the Town must provide the School Board with a detailed work plan for the school.

The names of former Fort Myers Beach Elementary School students are etched in the pavement on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg

The school was reopened in December of 2023, one year after suffering major damage from Hurricane Ian, and went through the demolition of several buildings on the property. The district has stated that it spent approximately $8 million on reopening the school after Hurricane Ian, which was reimbursed through a state loan and FEMA funds, as well as insurance funds. Town officials believe the school district was approved for more funds from FEMA, which it didn’t use for the elementary school.

Under the interlocal agreement which governed the reopening of the school, a cafeteria building was required to be constructed last year for the elementary school. The school district never constructed the building. The school was also supposed to remain open as a public school until at least 2027 under the agreement.

The town council has never had a formal discussion in public at any meeting to talk about taking over the school as a charter school. Aside from being informed by McKannay of his discussions with the school district’s administration, town councilmembers have never publicly questioned McKannay on the financial impacts of taking over the elementary school to operate it as a charter school, or what funding would be needed. There was never any public discussion by the town council of making an offer to the school district to take over the school and request funds for the school, prior to or after Allers made his offer at the conflict resolution meeting.

The conflict resolution meeting in November occurred after the town council voted to initiate mediation proceedings in September of last year. In May, the town council had voted to call on the town manager and town attorney to reach out to the school district’s administration to call upon them to enforce the interlocal agreement between the town and school district to keep the elementary school open as a public school. Weeks later, Allers took part in a conference call with School District of Lee County Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin, former school board chair Samuel Fisher, and Congressman Byron Donalds where a charter school was discussed as an option for the elementary school. No other town councilmembers took part in the discussion, and discussion of the charter school aspect was never discussed again publicly by the town council.

In 2025, town taxpayers paid more than $28 million to the School District of Lee County in school property taxes. Most of those funds would continue to go to the school district whether the town starts a charter school or not. The town would be able to capture some state funds for the school, based on a state formula per student. The cost for the town to operate the school would also depend on whether the town operates the school or if it contracts with an outside company to run the school.

John Koss, a Fort Myers Beach parent who worked hard with an ad-hoc committee of parents and community leaders to get the school back open after Hurricane Milton to no avail despite many meetings with administrators, believed the school district’s leadership deceived the town throughout the process.

Koss, who sent two students to Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, said he was waiting to see the full agreement before commenting on specifics but said “overall the District has been a complete letdown. They have done nothing short of lie and hide things from us. We will have a school on this island. But it will not be because they helped us in any way.”

Town of Fort Myers Beach Manager Will McKannay told the town council on Monday that he wants to propose a number of changes to the draft agreement between the two sides.

McKannay told the board he had recently met with officials from Education Freedom Foundation, the charter school consulting and management company run by Erika Donalds, wife of Rep. Byron Donalds. Rep. Donalds, who is running for governor, had been involved in a conference call with Allers, Carlin and school board member Samuel Fisher last year in which the possibility of the elementary school beconing a charter school was raised.

The conference call, happened in the middle of a town council meeting in which Allers excused himself to take the call. The conference call happened just two weeks after the town council had voted to call on the school district to reopen the elementary school. Town councilmembers, town staff, and community leaders walked from the town hall to the elementary school to show support for the reopening of the public elementary school.

However, the School District of Lee County School Board never committed to reopening the elementary school building as a public school again, despite the pleas of parents and students, and community members, who called upon the school board to do so. Instead, the school district sent Fort Myers Beach Elementary School students to Heights Elementary School for the past year, where they operated as their own school within a school.

Mckannay said on Monday that his meeting with the Education Freedom Foundation was a good meeting that “provided us with a lot of work” on how to start a charter school. McKannay said it is a long application process that worked for other charter schools. McKannay said town staff is working to finalizing an agreement with the Education Freedom Foundation, who he said will provide their services on the charter school application process “pro bono.” It’s not clear at this stage what other plans town officials and the Education Freedom Foundation have in mind for a partnership. The foundation has been involved in running charter schools in other communities, where they are paid a fee. McKannay did not immediately respond to questions as to who he spoke with at the meeting, or whether they are part of the town’s plans for helping to run the school.

McKannay said he will be meeting on Wednesday with elementary school parents and community members who belonged to the ad hoc committee that had worked for months to try and get the school district to reopen the elementary school building.

McKannay wants an extension of the time the town has to propose a plan for the charter school from 120 days to 12 months. McKannay said he also wants to involve the community in those discussions.

“120 days is just not realistic,” McKannay said. McKannay said he needs to determine which staff members will be involved.

McKannay said he wants immediate access to the elementary school property to begin planning and preparation and potential construction work right away. He said the current draft application ties submission of plan for charter school to the access of the property. “I believe we need access right away to make this happen right away,” McKannay said.

He also wants to expand allowable uses of the building within three years to non-educational or non-civic uses, for both educational and civic uses.

He also wants the agreement to allow for town staffing issues or a financial crisis to be reasons for the breaking of any agreement with the school district.

Allers said “the most important thing right now is to keep momentum moving in a positive direction.”