A Leon County judge today rebuffed a second attempt by districts to halt capital outlay payments to charter schools.
Today’s decision by Judge John Cooper comes as part of a lawsuit by 13 school districts attempting to block implementation of HB 7069. The law, approved last year, requires districts to share about $91 million in local funds with charter schools they sponsor, with a Thursday deadline.
The districts wanted to delay the distribution of funds until the lawsuits challenging the law were resolved. But judges in two cases have declined to block the payments.
“The release of capital funds as scheduled is great news to the public charter schools around the state who rely on those critical dollars to serve their students,” Lynn Norman-Teck of the Florida Charter School Alliance said in a statement. “Withholding funds would have put a financial burden on many schools — especially small schools that serve high need areas who would have had to tap into limited operation dollars to cover capital expenses.”
Earlier this month, Judge James Shelfer ruled in a separate lawsuit by the Palm Beach County School Board that there would be no “irreparable harm” if the districts had to distribute the money as scheduled while the cases remained pending.
A ruling on a preliminary motion does not necessarily signal anything about the judge’s view of the underlying merits in either case.
While the lawsuits drag on, it will be worth watching the legislative debate over charter school funding.
