Circuit Judge Shelfer declined to dismiss the Palm Beach school board lawsuit against HB 7069. This suit targeted the provision that requires districts to share locally derived facility funding with privately owned charter schools. The Florida constitution reserves the right to allocate local millage for facilities to district school boards. The complaint will be heard in court. Millions of dollars in tax revenue that would go to charter schools are at stake. Palm Beach alone would lose over $230 million dollars from its capital budget. The district also loses its constitutional right to control and supervise the use of these funds, most of which go to for-profit charter schools.
A second broader challenge to HB 7069 has yet to be heard.