Florida is forever robbing Peter to Pay Paul. This year K12 received a modest budget increase. Where did the money come from?
Category Archives: Funding
Criminal Summons to Pinellas Charter Management Companies
Newpoint Education Partners and its related companies in Florida are indicted on charges of grand theft, money laundering, and aggravated white collar crime. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the company sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of classroom supplies and technology from closed charters in Escambia to its charter schools in Pinellas. By law, these materials belong to the public school district when charters fail.
Newpoint managed Newpoint Tampa High School until it closed in 2013. Currently, it manages five charter schools in Pinellas and three are in serious financial trouble: Windsor Prep in St. Petersburg and two charters in Clearwater are in serious financial trouble. All Newpoint charters are managed by thee same board members, and they were silent until the problems became public. They are reorganizing, but the management company has gone silent.
Why the Florida legislature allows these charter mismanagement problems to continue is anyone’s guess. Once in awhile, someone tries to get corrective legislation passed, but it must not be a high priority. We have to keep trying.
Enrollment Chaos Already in Hernando
Open enrollment in Florida is here. Your child can attend any public school anywhere, if there is space. Hernando opened up all 5, 8, 11 and 12th grades so children could switch to a school outside their zoned school. Once those grades were filled, they would open up 10th grades as well as others where demand exists.
It was a big shuffle even though parents had to arrange transportation for their children. Not everyone was satisfied. Five schools were overcrowded and could not accept over 500 students who applied.
Open enrollment may not impact some counties too much. They already have allowed students to transfer. Movement across county lines could increase especially where parents work in one county and live in another. Unfortunately, when students leave a school, they take their state funding with them. As a result, schools with declining enrollments have even more problems providing a quality education.
There are cities that try to organize choice in order to balance the school population. In Minneapolis, for example, all students are enrolled in an area lottery. A child may apply to one of three schools that are relatively nearby. The assignment of students and teachers as well as special programs is planned to allow high quality programs at each school. It is a way to balance socio-economic characteristics to ensure there are advanced classes as well as extra support in every school.
Rural schools do not have much choice. Leon county schools does enroll children from neighboring counties, but those rural schools that remain have problems not only with funding, but also with teacher recruitment. The long term answer may be technology, but that too is in scarce supply.
NPR Tunes In: Where Did the Money Go?
NPR is doing a series on public education. They are starting with funding equity and adequacy. Florida is in court over this very issue. I liked the historical context that NPR provided e.g. “Education is a public good and paying for it is a public obligation”.
There is an interactive map on the NPR website where you can find how much funding your state or county within the state received in 2013-14. I got an itchy trigger finger and began poking around. Here’s what I found–it was surprising!
Indian River Charter Schools Sue District
Florida’s districts can ask voters to help fund schools through a local referendum. Charters in Indian River want a share. Five charters: Indian River Charter High School, Inc., Imagine Schools at South Vero, North County Charter School, Inc., Sebastian Charter Junior High, Inc., and St. Peter’s Academy, Inc., have filed a lawsuit. In 2012, voters approved a .6 mills increase in property taxes to fund their local public schools. Charters backed the referendum and want a pro-rata share.
Most districts do not and are not required to share funding from a local referendum with charters. Nevertheless, the competition for money goes on. The case was assigned to Administrative Law Judge Cathy M. Sellers.
Pinellas Charter School Company Disappears
Newpoint Education Partners runs/ran four schools in Pinellas that enroll 700 students. The company has run up $1.8 million in debt.
Will a $25,000 Bonus Work in Pinellas?
Districts are digging for gold. They need money to help recruit and retain high quality teachers in struggling schools. Turnover in these schools tends to be high. Where are they finding the money?
Southern Legal Counsel Nears Matching Grant Goal
Remember when we publicized the $20,000 matching grant to support the Citizens for Strong Schools lawsuit? They are now only $ 2,177 away. If you can help, please do. The case has rested awaiting Judge Reynolds’ decision. The bills are rolling in for this three person law firm. You can donate HERE.
Having a true public interest law firm is a blessing. They receive no award for this case, win or lose. Let’s help.
A Teacher Speaks Out
Once in awhile a very powerful message cuts through all of the data. This Teacher of the Year in Oklahoma tells it like it is.
She is speaking to the Oklahoma legislature, but she could be speaking to Florida’s. The message is the same; the problems are the same in Florida.
We have teaching testifying in the Citizens for Strong Schools trial that is going on in Tallahassee. Their voices and yours need to reach everyone.
Read this teacher’s message. Write your own and send it to me. Let’s tell it like it is. See the Open Letter to Oklahoma Voters and Lawmakers. It tells a story that cannot be ignored. If we want our schools to be better, our communities have to support ALL of our children or we all suffer.
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
The defense (Florida) in Citizens for Strong Schools argues that districts have enough money or can get enough through discretionary millage assessment on property taxes. The problem they assert, is mismanagement and a reordering of priorities. Do they have a point? You can check out this claim in your local districts. We are looking into budget priorities in Alachua County. We have also looked at the state audits of the district in past years. The hard choices they suggest are destructive choices. They can rob the programs that the State brags about to help improve conditions for at risk kids. Some choices are just bad choices.