Florida House approves charter school funding, accountability bill

Florida charter schools could face more scrutiny from school districts, and also get more support and predictable facilities funding under a bill approved by the state House.

The chamber approved HB 7037 on a 75-35 without debate in a vote that fell along party lines.

It was the first bill passed by Rep. Bob Cortes, a freshman Republican from Central Florida.

Key provisions would ease the expansion of charter schools that open in areas served by academically struggling district schools, and create a funding backstop for charter schools, which drew questions on Thursday from Democrats who worried about its impact on school district budgets.  The House also approved measures allowing traditional school principals to receive charter-like autonomy, and giving traditional public schools the same flexibility under state class-size penalties that charter schools enjoy.

The future of all those proposals now rests with the Senate.

The upper chamber is advancing a bill that, like the House legislation, would create a new charter school institute at Florida State University and ensure school boards can vet charter operators’ academic and financial history. It doesn’t include the funding proposal, however, and does include measures requiring charter school board members to show they are “independent of any management company,” which is not contained in the House plan.