Public schools make up the majority of hurricane evacuation shelters in Florida. These shelters have been built with taxpayer dollars and are available to the public in the event of a significant storm event. All the designated hurricane evacuation shelters in Manatee and Sarasota County are public schools. There are 12 designated hurricane shelters in Sarasota County and 26 designated hurricane shelters in Manatee County.
Yet, with the new legislation known as the Schools of Hope, recently passed and signed by the Governor, some public school classrooms may not be available as shelters. The State of Florida ignored hurricane shelter capacity when doling out public school space to for-profit corporations.
Schools of Hope are managed by private for-profit educational companies that can take over underutilized public-school classrooms. Schools of Hope are not subject to the oversight of local school boards. They do not have to answer to local county commissioners or emergency management departments…