Running a public school at the workplace is a revolutionary idea that Miami-Dade County Public Schools launched cooperatively with the business community and its teachers’ union.

Satellite Learning Centers (SLC) are the ultimate business/education partnership fostering numerous benefits for taxpayers, businesses, schools, parents, and children.

The Satellite Learning Center model is a simple one: the business provides the classroom space and related operational services at their facility; and the school system provides the teachers, instructional materials, and related educational program services. The centers employ the lead teacher concept advanced by the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession. For each SLC a nearby elementary school is identified as the host school. The host school principal and the lead teacher jointly administer the center.

The nation's first SLC opened in 1987 to serve the children and employees of American Bankers Insurance Group's (ABIG) - operating now as Assurant Group, with corporate headquarters located in Miami. One additional Satellite Learning Center is currently operating at Mt. Sinai Medical Center for children of hospital employees.

The Satellite Learning Center program is a WIN-WIN situation for all parties. For the school district, the satellite helps to decrease capital outlay expenses and transportation costs, while contributing to student integration by reflecting the commonly heterogeneous population of the parents' work environments. For the corporations it is an employee benefit to have their elementary-aged child nearby.

Recognizing the benefits of this model, the Florida Legislature approved a state statute which encourages cooperative development and use of satellite facilities, as well as providing local ad valorem tax exemptions for private companies establishing satellite learning centers.