Hernando school board approves Pineapple Cove charter, debate over prayer continues

The Hernando County School Board’s final meeting of the 2025-2026 school year put two governance fights in the same room: whether Brooksville should get another charter school option and whether board meetings should keep opening with prayer. The charter decision carried immediate legal weight, while the prayer dispute went straight to the question of how a public board presents itself to families watching its work.

Board members voted 4-1 to approve Pineapple Cove Classical Academy, Brooksville, a charter application modeled after a Melbourne school that has earned an A rating every year since 2017 except one. Board counsel Robert Myers told members the district had very little discretion under Florida policy, framing the vote less as a free-ranging policy choice than a legal compliance matter. Florida law allows a charter applicant whose request is denied, or not acted on, to appeal to the State Board of Education within 30 calendar days, which helps explain why district votes on charter applications are tightly boxed in by statute and appeal rules.

Pineapple Cove describes itself as a tuition-free public school open to eligible county students, including exceptional education students. Its Palm Bay campus is a K-12 charter school with 1,067 students and a 16:1 student-teacher ratio, and the school markets itself as a Hillsdale College-affiliated charter school of Brevard County. For Hernando County, the approval adds another school-choice option in a district already balancing growth pressure and the politics of who should control education decisions.

The split on the board followed familiar lines. Susan Duval argued that lawmakers in Tallahassee were imposing one-size-fits-all solutions on local districts and said communities should have more authority over education policy. Shannon Rodriguez and Mark Johnson countered that charter schools create competition, give parents more options and can help Hernando County keep pace as enrollment grows. Johnson also said the district needs the extra capacity. Duval was the lone no vote on Pineapple Cove and had also opposed two You Thrive charter applications earlier in May.

The prayer debate showed a different kind of pressure on the board. During public comment, Brooksville resident Diane Lynbrook argued the board should switch to a moment of silence, saying prayer at meetings was political and unfair when students face limits on praying in school settings. Johnson defended the tradition, saying prayer has long been part of government meetings and that the board’s prayer is non-denominational. Together, the two disputes showed how classroom choice, constitutional boundaries and parent confidence are now tied to the same set of decisions in Brooksville.