A parent of a charter school student wants to intervene in a court case challenging a new funding system for school facilities.
Marleny Olivo has two children who attend Palm Beach County public schools. One attends a district-run school. One attends a charter.
She argues that before HB 7069 passed earlier this year, the state and the local school board did not treat her children equally. Among other things, they did not use local property taxes to fund the facility at Academy for Positive Learning. But they did use that revenue to fund facilities at district schools.
The new law changed that. But the Palm Beach County School Board is challenging it in court. Other districts subsequently banded together and filed a pair of separate suits challenging the same law.
In an affidavit, Olivo states that if the Palm Beach lawsuit succeeds, it would harm her child who attends a charter school.
“The money that the School Board would be required to share with [the charter school] is minuscule to the School Board, but would be transformative to [the charter school],” her affidavit states.
This wouldn’t be the first time a parent waded into a lawsuit against the state to defend school choice. Over the past several years, parents using private scholarships have intervened in three lawsuits challenging those programs. In this case, Academy for Positive Learning also wants to get involved.
The motion to intervene includes an affidavit from the school’s principal. She rebuts several of the school district’s legal arguments.
For example, principal Renatta Espinoza contends the school board would still be able to oversee property tax revenue it shares with local charter schools. Among other things, she notes, state law requires charters to submit monthly financial reports to their district authorizers.
