UPDATE: The Duval County School Board unanimously approved issuing a five-year renewal of San Jose Early College at Cecil’s charter school contract at its Feb. 3 meeting.
Duval County’s School Board votes Feb. 3 on renewing a contract with a Westside charter school that could still be sold and closed to make room for a workforce training program.
Florida State College at Jacksonville has expressed interest in buying San Jose Early College at Cecil but hasn’t signed a letter of intent that would formalize its plans, said Bold City Education CEO Ryan Rewey, whose nonprofit firm owns the school for grades 6-12.
With its charter contract scheduled to expire at the end of June, the school is seeking to renew the agreement for five years, but Rewey acknowledged “that could change later on down the line.”
The B-graded school, which opened in 2021, is one of six charters whose contracts school district administrators are recommending the School Board approve renewing at its monthly meeting.
San Jose Early College is close by FSCJ’s Cecil Center, and the charter school has touted that proximity as allowing easy access for students who have dual enrollment in both high school and college classes.
But the charter hasn’t drawn the number of students Bold City Education expected, with enrollment in this school year dipping to just 168 students, according to material prepared for School Board members. An auditor’s report filed in June 2025 said the school “has suffered recurring losses” and “has stated that substantial doubt exists about the school’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
In December, Jacksonville’s City Council approved spending $5 million to help FSCJ buy the property as a location to teach needed job skills, but Rewey said the school is moving ahead for now with keeping its charter school contract intact.
He said his school’s governing board would have to approve any agreement to instead sell to FSCJ and would have to decide on a cutoff time to commit to operating for another school year.
“Families would need to know if we we’re going in a different direction,” Rewey said.
An FSCJ spokesperson, Jill Johnson, said the college remains interested in acquiring the school, pointing to email that FSCJ President John Avendano sent Rewey in January restating the college’s desire to use the site for career training. Johnson said operating the property as a charter school “is not in our mission,” however.
Johnson said by email that the college has some money set aside for expanding its training at Cecil in addition to the city-approved funding.
“Our next step is to negotiate the purchase of the property,” Johnson said.
This story was updated to correct a garbled sentence.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Eyed by FSCJ, Cecil charter school up for School Board contract renewal
Reporting by Steve Patterson, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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