The Florida Times-Union takes a deep dive this morning into the collapse of the Acclaim Academy charter school network.
We took a look at the chain’s unraveling here, but the newspaper adds important details, including one that appears to have gotten the attention of Duval County school board members. Dennis Mope, Acclaim’s CEO, had previously filed for bankruptcy.
That raises the question: Why didn’t this come up when Acclaim applied to open its first charter school? Shouldn’t districts take this kind of information into account when they vet prospective charter school operators?
The Times-Union reports:
Pearl Roziers, Duval’s assistant superintendent of charter school oversight, said the School Board did not inquire about a history of bankruptcy. “The [charter school] application phase of the process does not provide an avenue to which we can request this information,” she said.
Couch said she is not sure that, if Duval denied the application based on Mope’s bankruptcy, the state would have upheld the district’s decision or overturned it. At the time, she said, Florida statutes gave districts few grounds for denying charter applications.
State Department of Education Press Secretary Cheryl Etters said districts are supposed to consider charter school operator’s prior academic and financial performance and they can use that to turn down an application.
“There is nothing that prohibits a school district from asking whether an applicant has filed for bankruptcy, and we know that many districts assess an applicant’s past financial performance,” Etters said.
Some charter school advocates, especially those tied to reputable schools, have also argued that school districts have the authority now to ask about the academic and financial histories of charter school applicants, and take that information into account when they vet applications. Districts, they say, need to take more responsibility for supervising the charters they approve.
Legislation proposed this year would have required charters to disclose the academic and financial histories of their boards and other leaders, and given districts clear legal authority to take that kind of information into account when deciding whether to let them open new schools. In other words, it would have eliminated this uncertainty. Expect that idea to return.
