With 43 schools and seven more expected to open in the fall, the charter school community in Hillsborough County, Fla. has grown to the size of a small school district.

Which is why members of Charter School Leaders of Florida say having a local group to represent them is so important.

“We do feel as an organization …  that now more than ever, we need to work as a group,’’ said the group’s treasurer, Mark Haggett, who also directs Academies of RCMA, elementary and middle school charters in Wimauma.

The group’s name suggests it might serve the whole state, but for now it’s limited to Hillsborough. It began informally, nearly a decade ago, as a way for charter school principals to regularly meet – like traditional public school principals – and talk about best practices, training, assessments and funding. It also was a safe place for members to vent frustrations about the district and the Florida Department of Education.

In 2007, the principals formed a nonprofit and shifted focus.

“Our main goal was to work with the superintendent and really forge a true partnership between the schools and the district,’’ said Gary Hocevar, former principal of the charter, Terrace Community Middle School, and the leadership group’s past president.

The group also organized to help lobby on behalf of charter schools for more funding – “not just for charter schools, but funding for all education,’’ Hocevar said.

The group, now headed by Cametra Edwards, principal of Village of Excellence Academy in east Tampa, represents about 35 charters. It’s among a handful of such groups in the state.

“Such organizations are definitely something we want to encourage as a state and we have already discussed some ways in which we could help that along,’’ said Mike Kooi, who oversees the office of school choice for the Florida Department of Education. (more…)

More than 100 school districts in the U.S. now have 10 percent or more of their students in charter schools, and eight Florida districts are among them, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Lee County School District leads Florida districts with 14 percent, says the report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, which is based on enrollment figures for the 2011-12 school year. It’s followed by Broward, Lake, Miami-Dade, Polk and Sarasota (all at 12 percent), Indian River (at 11 percent) and Osceola (at 10 percent).

New Orleans tops all districts with 76 percent, followed by Detroit (41 percent), Washington D.C. (41 percent), Kansas City, Mo. (37 percent) and Flint, Mich. (33 percent).

Two Florida districts are among the 10 fastest-growing for charters. Between 2010-11 and 2011-12, charter enrollment rose from 6,207 to 9,452 in Hillsborough County, a 52 percent increase that put it at No. 2 nationally over that span. Broward County showed a 26 percent increase, putting it at No. 6.

Eight Florida school districts are also among the Top 50 in total number of charter students, but that has a lot to do with how huge Florida districts tend to be. Miami-Dade leads all Florida districts and is No. 6 nationally with 41,767 charter students last year.

For more about the report, see New York Times here and Huffington Post here.