FLEMING ISLAND – After meeting the criteria, a Clay County charter school can now open a second location.

St. Johns Classical Academy is tentatively gunning for the 2023-2024 school year to open its Lake Asbury campus.

Headmaster Matt Johnson said the school hit the target of being an “A” school four years in a row to achieve high-performing status. State law requires a charter school to have received at least two school grades of "A" and no school grade below "B" for the last three years or received at least two consecutive school grades of “A” in the most recent two school years.

The school must also receive an unqualified opinion on each annual audit in the most recent three years and must avoid meeting “emergency conditions” in the previous three fiscal years.

The school, affiliated with the national Hillsdale College, has a waitlist of more than 1,000 students.

“I’m excited about the road to replication,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the school’s presence can be an asset to alleviate the capacity in one of the county’s fastest-growing areas. Two votes at a Clay County District meeting last week approved contracts greenlighting the replication and a 15-year renewal for the school.

“We want to thank the district for their cooperation and are grateful for the 15-year renewal,” he said. “We want to be an option for families who want school choice and a classical education for their children.”

The capacity of the Lake Asbury school is approximately 1,000 students. The contract covers July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2028. The school is to serve kindergarten through 12th grade and will be located on Russell Road, according to district documents.

Diane Hutchings, a founder and board member of the school, now volunteers with the school in a consultant role.

"Replication is hitting a milestone," she added.

Despite the success of the Fleming Island campus, Hutchings said the school will be careful about transferring students between schools. She said the school initially plans to start as a kindergarten through eighth grade school.

“We don’t want to dilute that current success,” Hutchings said.

Hutchings said there are more developments for the school: a gym on the Fleming Island campus and soccer fields. The school hosted its first graduation earlier this year. She added that while students may leave for public high schools around ninth and 10th grade, it does build a strong core of graduates.

“With replication, we don’t have to do anything different than we’re already doing,” Hutchings said.