A constitutional amendment that could open the door to new forms of public school oversight took a step closer to Florida’s November ballot today.
The Florida Constitution Revision Commission voted 27-8 to support a proposal that, among other things, would allow the Legislature to create new charter school authorizers. The measure now heads to a drafting committee for possible revisions.
In 2008, courts blocked efforts to create a statewide Schools of Excellence Commission that could authorize charter schools. The legal rationale: Florida’s constitution gives school districts exclusive authority over every public school in their geographic areas.
Some groups argue this limits efforts to improve charter school quality in Florida.
Erika Donalds, the commissioner sponsoring the proposal, said 34 other states allow some sort of statewide charter school authorizer.
“The existence of multiple authorizers is a best practice, because it provides competition,” she said.
Supporters, including Carlos Beruff, the chairman of the commission, pointed out that right now, for Florida’s charter schools, “the only authority is a competitor in the same game.” That is, the school districts that oversee charters must also compete with them to attract students and funding.
Opponents of the measure included Pam Stewart, the state’s education commissioner. She said the state Board of Education can still hear appeals from charter schools rejected by local school boards.
“I think there are enough rules and laws in place that they cannot — just because they don’t want the competition — say no,” she said.
The Florida Legislature recently tightened those rules in a sweeping new law. HB 7055 requires school districts to appear before an administrative law judge before they can close charter schools.
Donalds said allowing multiple charter school authorizers might allow lawmakers to loosen some of those reins, since districts would compete with a statewide board, or some other charter school authorizer created by the Legislature, for the ability to sponsor charter schools.
Any authorizers that perform their duties poorly could be sanctioned by the state.
“What we could see in the Legislature is more flexibility, if that relationship does not need to be micromanaged,” she said.
Other supporters on the commission, like Patricia Levesque, who also heads the Foundation for Excellence in Education, pointed out that under revisions made today, Proposal 71 is about more than just charter schools. It would simply eliminate the provisions at the heart of the court ruling that blocked the statewide charter board nearly a decade ago.
In so doing, it would also give the state more freedom to create other new forms of public schools.
The proposal will still need another vote by the full commission before it can head to the ballot.
