February 2, 2022
Tallahassee Community College (TCC) was named today by Gov. Ron DeSantis as one of only five colleges in the state selected to create a career and technical education charter school on its campus. TCC was selected because of our track record of preparing our community’s workforce.
“There are many details still left to be determined, but I am very excited about the possibility of creating a charter school at our College and am grateful to Governor DeSantis for his support,” said President Jim Murdaugh. “We will be engaging our campus community in conversations to help design a successful high school at TCC.”
TCC Provost Calandra Stringer will be convening design-thinking sessions from various departments across campus to weigh all the College’s options and formulate a plan.
Funding to prepare for the launch of charter schools on five Florida college campuses is being provided as part of $3.5 billion dollars that Florida has invested in workforce education over the past several years.
The unique charter school will allow students to gain credentials in high-demand fields and be market-ready upon graduation with both an Associate in Science and a high school diploma. It will improve the College’s commitment to career and technical education, with a primary focus in STEM fields, such as cybersecurity, building automation, healthcare programs and more.
“The addition of a charter school on our campus is consistent with the College’s desire to contribute to the efforts in preparing the workforce of our region,” Murdaugh added. “It provides an expansion of the career acceleration options we already have.”
Florida state colleges identified by the governor as being selected to create career and technical education charter schools also included Northwest Florida State College, Sante Fe College, Miami-Dade College and St. Pete College.
Charter schools are often seen as a method to improve student learning, provide students with expanded educational opportunities and be publicly accountable for meeting measurable standards.