In Florida, new charter schools are eligible to apply for and receive planning and implementation grants to assist with the establishment of charter schools that have been approved by their local school districts or licensing educational agency (LEA).

This year, the state of Florida is offering an additional grant of $50,000 to start-up charter schools that develop career academies within their curriculum and that partner with local universities or colleges in order to implement instruction in those academies.

Career academies are designed to further school improvement and reform in local high schools through the "school-within-a-school" concept. Academy students are grouped in special small group settings and share teacher teams from throughout the curriculum in order to focus academic goals.

Miami Arts Charter Charter is seeking a career academy in Studio Music Recording and Engineering and will employ staff from the University of Miami Frost School of Music to teach music engineering techniques.

The University of Miami's Music Engineering program is highly respected as one of the finest in the nation. The University is also the only college to operate a professional record label, Cane Records , as a part of the university's regular curriculum. Students not only learn the "hows" of music recording and engineering, but also the business aspects of making a living in the professional music world.