Federal State Education Agency (SEA) grants awarded for charter development in Florida reached $67, 644, 267 over four years.  A federal Office of the Inspector General audit could not find the money. The report stated that there was not “a reliable universe of charter schools that received and spent funds”.  The Florida Charter School Division awarded the funds to the charter school startups but had no mechanism to track them.  It is no wonder that charter schools open and close so fast.  Operators can receive up to $300,000 just to open a charter, and there is no way to find the money if they suddenly close.

No doubt that making laws is easier than finding funds to implement them properly.  Reaffirming that the public interest is more important than the financial opportunities for legislators and their supporters cannot be ignored.  Districts need to be empowered to monitor and correct charter mismanagement.  The Commission on Ethics needs some teeth so that it will sting when violations occur in the legislature and other public entities.   The Miami Herald’s series on “Cashing in On Kids” outlines the problem.  It is time to curb for-profit management of schools. Other states have done so.

Governor DeSantis announced he plans to expand charter schools into 247 federally designated Opportunity Zones. These charters would fall under a revision of the current Schools of Hope legislation. They can open within a five mile radius of a persistently low performing public school without district approval. There were 53 persistently low performing schools in 2018.

The change in the Schools of Hope legislation to Opportunity Zones would mean that a charter could open without district approval in any of 247 federally designated low income areas in Florida even if there was already a school that was not low performing. The financial incentive for opening these charters is a tax break on real estate. But then, real estate investments are the motive for a majority of charter school owners…nothing new there.

There are four ‘high performing’ charter companies qualified to open these schools:  Democracy Prep; KIPP New Jersey; IDEA, and Somerset.  Somerset is a subdivision of Academica, Florida’s largest for-profit charter management company.  

These schools post high achievement for the students who survive.   Here are some articles about the reasons why:

Are IDEA Charter Schools a Good Idea for Austin?

IDEA is a no nonsense selective charter school that admits students with no discipline problems. It has a grade retention policy for students who struggle. Of those in Austin, Texas who started ninth grade, at best 65% graduated. They serve primarily Hispanic students. A report on IDEA is here.

Democracy Prep had its origins in Harlem, New York. This chain has a high student attrition rate, but it does add some new students as others drop out. It boasts high percentage of students entering college, but a low college completion rate. The percentage of ninth graders remaining until high school graduation is shown in the graph below.

KIPP charters are also ‘no nonsense’ charters. They have a relatively high fifth grade retention rate, and as students drop out, they are replaced by higher achieving students.

One of the founders of KIPP was discharged due to allegations of sexual misconduct against a student and a staff member. A study of KIPP attrition was done by EducationNext.

Somerset is a group of Academica charters based primarily in Miami. It was the only management company to bid on the takeover of Jefferson County schools in 2017-18. The latest school grade report shows an improvement from a ‘D’ to a ‘C’.