At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, many charter public schools faced extreme difficulty in hiring qualified safe-school officers for their campuses. In Broward County, the school board took the extraordinary step of immediately revoking the charter of Championship Academy of Distinction at Davie and taking over the school after a safe-school officer was not present on campus during the first two days of class.

The case of Broward County School Board v. Championship Academy of Distinction at Davie, Case Nos. 19-004818 and 19-005310 (Fla. DOAH July 31, 2020), marked the first time that a Florida charter school successfully challenged, on appeal, the immediate termination of its charter by a school district. In reinstating the school's charter, Judge Cathy M. Sellers determined that the school board failed to show that there was an immediate and serious danger to the school's students and teachers that justified an immediate termination of the charter. More important, the Championship Academy decision held that the school board had a legal obligation to assign or establish safe-school officers at all public schools, including charter schools. This decision will undoubtedly have far-reaching implications for traditional and charter public schools alike throughout the state of Florida, as they prepare to reopen their classrooms for in-person learning.