from Pat Drago
Stargel’s amendment to SB 524 is terrible. Please oppose. It requires 10% of FTE in charter schools before a district that is a High Growth District is eligible for additional capital funds.
Category Archives: Charter School Management
Investing in What Works
Many states are struggling with a fundamental choice in improving at risk schools. Do you help communities to band together to bring resources and talent to struggling schools or does the state take over these schools and ‘fix’ them by turning them over to charter management companies?
Fla. High Impact Charter Network Bill Advances
Legislation
The devil is often in the details, and this bill HB 830 Stargel has many provisions. In a nutshell, it requires better background checks and more transparency for charter providers. This is good, right? It also gives the State Board of Education the ability to authorize High Impact Charter Networks. Maybe this is not so good.
Charter providers in approved networks apply to districts, but if they are already authorized, is this simply smoke and mirrors? In a way, this is a mini version of the bill to amend the constitution to create a separate charter system. It takes away local control. The constitutional amendment will not make it to the ballot, but the High Impact Charter Networks are likely to become law. If I were a betting person, I would think this is another effort to attract and expand KIPP schools.
Money or Ideology?: Why Does the State Board of Education Overrule Districts?
Sometimes the sun shines, and sometimes it rains. I guess it is climate change?? It rained on St Lucie and Indian River’s school boards. They had voted to reject three Somerset charter schools. There were the usual complaints that the charters offered little new and also disrupted district desegregation efforts. These new charters were proposed under the High Achieving Charter law that allows charters to locate in other counties if they have a charter school with at least two A’s and a B somewhere else.
School grades being school grades, high performing means little. We all have schools that change from an ‘A’ to a ‘C’ depending upon how zone lines change. Charters can maintain grades by strategic choice of location, students, and dismissal policies.
Yes, There IS Hope! The Senate is Listening and Acting
I asked Debbie, our League lobbyist, had Brandes’ municipal charter bill died? I could not find it last night. I know it is hard to hope, but today it is much easier. When major legislators acknowledge the problem, change will happen. It may take some time, so keep on keeping on.
Read her response:
Charter School Explosion: Follow the Money
Do you wonder why I am so pleased about Sen. Gaetz’s bill? I will tell you a story. It’s an unbelievable story. Pat Hall, LWVF Education Chair for Hillsborough’s League wrote it after her investigation of CSUSA real estate practices. It’s a peek into another world.
Read it here.
Pat and I have wondered if we were whistling into the wind. Maybe, just maybe, people are beginning to hear.
Fla. Senator Favors Charters with a ‘Social Conscience’
Senator Gaetz is thinking about what is right. He and Rep. Fresen (HB 873) are squaring off over charter school funding for facilities. Both bills would reduce the amount of capital outlay dollars public schools can assess through local property taxes. According to the Miami Herald, Senator Gaetz’s bill would also crack down on ‘private enrichment’ schemes that charter management firms use to build and lease facilities for which they charge exorbitant rates.
Parents Fight New Charter School
This proposed charter for 1100 students is not needed, Avalon parents say. Our schools are ‘A’ rated. Why bring in competing charters? Kathleen Oropeza posted a petition that parents have created to stop the for-profit Charter USA school from being built. Over 1100 parents have already signed it.
If the parents are successful in blocking the new charter in their district, they may have to face the approval process by the State Board of Education. As currently construed, SBE members tend to approve charters even if they are not needed. The message needs to go beyond local school boards.
When parents get this organized, the legislature might even listen.
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: New Bill to Give Charters More Public School Money
For years, some legislators have tried to get part of the local districts’ school facility money. Now, they are trying again. In an effort led by Representative Erik Fresen, HB 873 has a new substitute version that would:
Beware Online Charters
I have something positive to say about the Walton Foundation report on online charters. Yes, it is true that the Foundation has spent billions of dollars on school choice and launched many online charter schools. They decided to evaluate their investment, however, and the results were very disturbing.