Dear Colleagues,

This morning, Governor Ron DeSantis announced TCC was named as one of only five colleges in the state selected to create a charter school because of our track record of preparing our community’s workforce.

I am incredibly excited about the opportunity to create a charter school at our College. There are many details still left to be resolved, and we will be engaging our campus community to help inform our decisions. In the coming days, Provost Stringer will be convening design-thinking sessions with representatives from various departments across campus to weigh all the College’s options and formulate a plan.

The goal of this charter school is to 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. The initial funding is being provided from the State of Florida as part of a larger investment in workforce education initiatives.

I believe this is a unique opportunity to improve our commitment to career and technical education, with a primary focus in STEM fields, such as cybersecurity, building automation, healthcare programs and more. It provides an expansion of the career acceleration options we already have, and is consistent with the College’s mission to prepare the workforce of our region.

We will continue to keep our campus informed as more information becomes available. In the meantime, I look forward to this new chapter for TCC and expanding the outstanding work we do for our community.