The Florida House subcommittee on choice and innovation approved its first bill along party lines Wednesday, giving charter schools more freedom to grow but also including new accountability measures.
Lawmakers continue to amend the bill, which would allow charter schools to move into unused district facilities. It would also tighten some contract requirements to deter fiscal mismanagement.
Charter school advocates mostly offered praise for the proposal, which still has a long way to go in the legislative process.
“We think this is a very good bill,’’ said former legislator and lobbyist Jim Horne, who recalled supporting the state’s very first charter bill in 1995.
It didn’t pass that year, but did in 1996. Soon after, the first charter school opened, said Horne, who also served as education commissioner. Today, there are more than 500 charters serving 200,000 students – enough, if they were a school district, to rank as second- or third-largest in Florida and eighth-largest in America, he said.
Yet “we still have over 80,000 students on a waiting list,’’ said Horne, who represents Charter Schools USA. “Legislation like this moves things along.’’
The bill drew its share of criticism from traditional public school proponents. They cautioned the representatives to think about how some of the proposals – especially one that allows charters to move into district schools - might impact the future of public education.
“We have capacity at our schools because of charters,’’ said Colleen Conklin, a member of the Flagler County School Board. “We need to be responsible for reform. We need to have education settings where students don’t want to leave. We need a balance.’’ (more…)
Louisiana: A district judge deems the state's voucher program unconstitutional because of the funding mechanism it uses to send public dollars to private schools (coverage roundup at redefinED). A federal judge rules the recent expansion of vouchers and charter schools in Lousiana conflicts with one school district's desegregation order (New Orleans Times Picayune).
Gov. Bryant
Mississippi: Gov. Phil Bryant is looking to expand school choice next year, announcing proposals last week for tax credit scholarships and more charter schools (Associated Press).
New Jersey: Students in New Jersey charter schools are outperforming their peers in traditional public schools, concludes a new Stanford study (Associated Press).
Tennessee: Key questions remain unanswered in a task force's voucher proposal, including the per-voucher value (The Tennessean). More from timesfreepress.com.
Florida: A failing Orange County charter school that paid its principal more than $500,000 as it was shutting down also paid her husband more than $460,000 during a five-year period (Orlando Sentinel). (more…)
