A Central Florida charter school has taken the state to court in a bid to keep its classification as a “high-performing” charter – and the financial benefits that come with it.
Imagine Schools at South Lake sued the state after the Department of Education informed the school it lost high-performing status when its school grade dropped earlier this year.
Its lawsuit argues there is a conflict in the state’s law designating high-performing charter schools, and it should be able to keep the status until lawmakers resolve the issue. The case could affect the reputation and finances of other charters around the state.
The school is managed by Imagine Schools, the well-known operator of 67 schools around the country and 21 in Florida. It won a preliminary victory last month, when a Leon County judge agreed the school can keep its high-performing classification until the case gets decided. Judge George Reynolds is set to hear arguments in the case next week, and court documents show he has already indicated he’s leaning toward siding with the school.
Lawmakers created the high-performing classification to reward charter schools with strong academic track records and help them grow. Schools qualify by receiving clean financial audits and earning a string of A’s and B’s over three years.
State law allows high-performing charter schools to expand and replicate more easily. They pay smaller administrative fees to the school districts that authorize them.
They also have the ability to enter 15-year charter contracts, instead of the usual five-year term. This is an important provision to Imagine Schools at South Lake, whose current charter agreement would expire if it returns to a five-year contract. In court documents, the school says it’s not in danger of closing, but the resulting uncertainty has vexed some of its other business partners, including the federal school lunch program.
Legislation passed in 2013 required the department to review charter schools every year to see if they still met all the requirements for high-performing schools, which include earning at least two A’s and a B in the most recent three years of school grades.
The department found the Imagine School at South Lake lost its high-performing status last year, when its grade slipped to a C. The school, however, says that’s wrong. It points to an older provision in state law, which reads like this (emphasis added):
A high-performing charter school may not increase enrollment or expand grade levels following any school year in which it receives a school grade of “C” or below. If the charter school receives a school grade of “C” or below in any 2 years during the term of the charter awarded under subsection (2), the term of the charter may be modified by the sponsor and the charter school loses its high-performing charter school status until it regains that status under subsection (1).
The school argues that means the court should bar the department from stripping high-performing status from schools that haven’t received two C’s under their current contracts (since 2008, it had received all A’s and B’s until 2014’s grades were issued).
The department, however, has countered that it’s simply complying with the 2013 law, which requires state officials to make sure schools have earned two A’s and nothing below a C in a three-year period, and to remove the high-performing classification for schools that no longer meet the requirements.
In other words, the department argues the competing provisions “can and should be reconciled.” The state is required to strip the school of its high-performing status, the department says, but the older requirement would only kick in if it receives a second C, costing the school its 15-year contract.
If the Imagine school wins the case, it could affect other schools. A total of 16 elementary and middle schools lost high-performing charter status after this summer’s release of school grades. Of those, 10 received the same set of grades as the Imagine school: Two A’s and a B starting in 2011, followed by a C this year.
As of late last year, the state labels 148 charter schools, or more than one in five Florida charter schools, as high-performing.
