What Is a Charter School?

The Villages Charter School (VCS) operates under a charter agreement approved by the Sumter County Board of Education and the Florida State Department of Education. Our charter school was created to provide a quality education as a benefit to the children of employees who have dedicated themselves to create, nurture, and serve The Villages community. High standards for academic achievement, student behavior, and attendance paired with parent involvement and a strong partnership with our community stakeholders is a big part of our success.

VCS is identified as a “Charter School-in-the-Workplace” and operates as a Florida nonprofit corporation. Established through Florida law, charter schools in the workplace are public schools of choice with the ability to target a specific student population. In our instance, our students are drawn from a workplace boundary rather than the typical public school geographic boundary.

For the most part, our students reside in Lake, Marion, and Sumter counties—all separate school districts — and transportation is provided by parents as they travel to work. You’ll find a great sense of school pride and community due to our proximity to the workplace.

Student eligibility to attend our school is based upon a four-category system related to employment. Please see our Office of Admissions for more detailed information on qualifying employment and enrollment policies.

The charter-in-the-workplace partnership we have forged has proven to greatly impact our workforce families. Since its opening, our unique charter school system has provided an exemplary education for its students. This is evident in our achievement results which have consistently outpaced local, county, and state averages.

VCS takes great pride in being named a “High Performing Charter School,” a “School of Excellence,” receiving accreditation as a “Cognia School and System of Distinction,” and earning 21 straight “A” ratings from the Florida Department of Education.