Here’s a good synopsis of the legal flaws in HB 7069. These constitutional issues need to be at our fingertips:
The bill:
- Strips the authority of local school boards to review charter school applications and enforce minimum quality standards e.g. earn a school grade of at least a ‘C’ and participate in the Florida Standards Assessment program.
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Violates the constitutional authority of school boards to levy property taxes to support schools by requiring revenue to be shared with privately owned charter schools.
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Allows some charters to hire uncertified teachers.
The courts may have to decide whether or not to throw out these provisions. Citizens need to decide whether politicians should have made these decisions in the first place. There is more at stake than money, which is a huge issue for the maintenance of public school buildings. The control of local schools by a few politicians who manipulated the legislative process by holding meetings in secret and launching legislation at the last minute is a practice that robs everyone of the right to know what is happening.
HB 7069 law suite involving a growing number of districts will work through the court system and end up in the Florida Supreme Courts in two years. Meanwhile, a way to control the harm of this new law would be to support a moratorium for the expansion of charters.