Florida's charter school laws continue to get middling rankings from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. The state's rating remains unchanged in the group's latest national report, leaving it tied with Arizona for the 18th-best charter school oversight policy in the country.
The state's executive branch is trying to tackle some of the issues raised in the third edition of the annual report, which came out this week.
In a nutshell, Florida gets pretty good marks for charter school accountability. Districts are required to keep track of charters' performance, and schools can lose their contracts if they don't meet academic goals. The lowest performers — those that earn consecutive F's through the state grading system — can be shut down automatically.
But the state falls short when it comes to holding districts accountable for the charters they oversee. Local school boards sponsor all but a handful of the state's more than 650 charter schools.
There are several issues here.
This year, Florida's Department of Education won the biggest slice of federal funding for states that want to improve their charter schools.
Grant documents show the state has some interesting plans for that money.
The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that it's doling out more than $177 million in Charter Schools Program grants to state education agencies. Florida is in line to receive $58 million.
Another nearly $68 million is going to top charter school networks around the country, but none of them is based in Florida.
That shortage of nationally recognized charter school networks is one of the issues state officials plan to address.
Their application describes "a bold and ambitious plan to drive, support and sustain the continued evolution of Florida’s charter school sector into a high-impact system that dramatically improves outcomes and opportunities for educationally disadvantaged students."
Some of the money will be passed on to charter schools that want to open or expand in the state. But the education department can also use a portion of the funding to address systemic issues.
Among other things, the documents outline plans to improve accountability for Florida's charter schools, train "high-caliber" charter school leaders, and bring more top charters to low-income neighborhoods.
Authorizing matters
Florida is home to more than 650 charter schools, which educate approximately one in ten of its 2.8 million public-school students.
But the rate of new schools opening has slowed in recent years.
In its grant application, Florida describes an emphasis on quality over quantity. It could use the money to support as many as 40 new charter schools a year for a five-year period. That would represent a slight decline from the previous five years, when the state backed an average of 49 new schools per year.
"Florida is committed to ensuring that only those charter applicants who have the vision, plan and capacity to open and operate a high-quality charter school are permitted to open," the application states. (more…)
