The Polk County STAR academy will continue to operate, though officials had said a lack of funding would doom its operation.
STAR academies were formed to replace the juvenile boot camps that the Department of Juvenile Justice used to contract with sheriff departments across the state. The academies focus more on education and helping juveniles integrate back into society than boot camps did.
The boot camps were scrapped in 2006 after 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died a day after he was roughed up by drill instructors at the Bay County boot camp.
Seven drill instructors and a camp nurse are waiting trial on charges of felony manslaughter of a child in that case.
Walt McNeil, secretary of DJJ, said in April that the Polk STAR academy, the only one operating in Florida, would close soon for lack of funding.
Well, they must have found funding somewhere.
DJJ spokeswoman, Kim Griffin, said earlier this week that the state's new budget included a three-year contract for the Polk County STAR academy and there are no plans for it to close.