The Broward County school district was the first to announce it would challenge a wide-ranging Florida education law. One of its chief objections: The law requires it, for the first time, to share local property tax revenue earmarked for capital expenses with charter schools.
But even as it prepares to fight the new law, the district is preparing to share money with one group of charter schools voluntarily for the first time.
The Sun-Sentinel reports the district wants to share facilities funding with five charter schools operated by the City of Pembroke Pines.
Regardless, district officials say the Pembroke Pines schools will get some of the approximately $300 million in tax dollars based on their needs, using a review by an independent assessor.
The city has been asking the school district since 2005 to share property tax dollars, arguing their schools have the same needs as district schools, and parents of students at the schools are paying school taxes like other homeowners. The district has argued in the past that the state has reduced the amount of property taxes it’s allowed to levy, making it difficult to give any to charter schools.
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The city had also asked the school district to allocate construction dollars from the $800 million bond referendum passed by voters in 2014. The School Board gave money for charter schools to buy technology but not to fix buildings.
“I’m very happy to hear that they are for the first time open to sharing some funds with us,” Pembroke Pines City Commissioner Angelo Castillo said. “Our facilities are government owned, built to the same standards and should not be treated any different than other schools.”
Castillo underlines a few features that set the Pembroke Pines system apart from other charter schools in Florida. It’s a government-run system, controlled by a municipality. Its facilities aren’t owned by private real estate investors. And it shares other trappings of district-run public schools. For example, its teachers are unionized.
Indeed, the Sun-Sentinel notes the district does not plan a similar arrangement for the city of Coral Springs. That city runs a charter network in a partnership with Charter Schools USA, a private management company.
Of course, Broward would only be able to share funding with some charter schools and not others if it wins its lawsuit against the state. That’s far from guaranteed.
Still, the proposal for Pembroke Pines highlights a road not taken by school districts in the past. It would apply only to charter school facilities that are government-owned, meaning it would avoid so-called private “enrichment” by charter school real estate investors. And the district would allocate funding based on assessed building needs — the same way it funds its own facilities — rather than sending equal shares of revenue to each school, as the new law requires.
Pembroke Pines once sued the district for a fair share of facilities funding and lost. Here’s what the Sun-Sentinel reported when the city filed suit ten years ago:
“Our belief is that the money belongs to the students and it should be used to enhance their educational opportunities,” said City Manager Charles Dodge, who also is the superintendent of the city’s charter schools. “We hope [the lawsuit] will bring a conclusion to this.”
He said the city is owed “millions,” but declined to provide a specific figure or say where the money would be spent, citing the lawsuit.
“There is nothing we know of that says they are entitled to the [property tax] money,” said Keith Bromery, a spokesman for the school district.
In short, charter schools have long sought fair facilities funding. Most districts, including Broward, refused. Now, the Legislature has intervened and forced them to share funding on its terms, rather than terms negotiated locally.
The new law would require Broward to share about 10 percent of the property taxes it raises for school facilities with charters, according to estimates prepared by the Florida House.
Four other districts have opted to join Broward’s lawsuit challenging the new law. Others, like Palm Beach, are researching separate legal action.
But yesterday, the Sarasota school board voted unanimously not to follow suit. Perhaps notably, it’s one of the few districts in Florida that voluntarily shared facilities funding with charter schools before the new law took effect.
