Florida's past few legislative sessions have seen some contentious battles between school districts and charter schools over issues like applications and capital funding, especially in the House.
State Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, who chairs a key education panel, is trying to set a more collaborative tone this year.
Rep. Manny Diaz Jr.
This week, he introduced legislation that would allow districts to seek charter-like flexibility in exchange for more regulatory freedom. On Wednesday, he brought in a group of district and charter representatives to talk charter school authorizing.
The two sides have for the past few years been trying to reach agreements on issues like promoting quality charters and screening out schools that aren't qualified.
Lawmakers have heard or floated proposals on both fronts in the run-up to the legislative session that begins in March, but this year's key charter school bills have yet to emerge.
Diaz said that while charter school issues have brought "fireworks" to the House Choice & Innovation Subcommittee in the past, "You see some common ground. Everyone involved in this wants the best for the kids and wants quality charter schools."
While lawmakers want to "provide the environment for quality charter schools to exist," he said, "there's no one here that wants to allow fly-by-nights, or folks who are in it for the wrong reasons to be in this industry."
Tim Kitts, the leader of a small Northwest Florida charter school network, has become a vocal advocate for stopping unqualified charters. He told the committee that around the state, he's seen "bad actors" on both sides - charter schools that aren't prepared to educate students, and districts that throw roadblocks in the way of charter operators with proven track records.
Arza
If the chatter among Florida charter school supporters is any indication, expect to see proposed legislation next spring that calls for equitable funding for charter schools and the return of charter authorizers who are independent from public school districts.
“This is a forced marriage that needs counseling,’’ joked Ralph Arza, a former Florida legislator who now serves as the governmental affairs director for the Florida Consortium on Public Charter Schools.
More than 100 charter school operators and advocates, who met Wednesday during the 16th Annual Florida Charter School Conference in Orlando, also want more streamlined applications and sanctions against districts that drag out the appeals process.
The way it works now, some applications call for thousands of pages of documentation, said Collette Papa of Academica, a charter school management company with about 100 schools in Florida. If a district denies the application, the appeals process can take anywhere from three to six months, Papa said. If the charter school wins approval, often it’s too late to hire teachers, secure a site and recruit students in time to open the same year, she said.
Papa was part of a 7-member panel that included Mike Kooi from the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice, Pamela Owens of Charter Schools of Boynton Beach, Marvin Pitts of Mavericks in Education in south Florida, Gene Waddell of Indian River Charter High School in Vero Beach and Tim Kitts, who operates five Bay Haven Charter Academy schools in Panama City.
The panel discussion anchored a town hall meeting that kicked off the two-day conference. It was sponsored by the consortium and led by Arza, who served in the Legislature between 2000 and 2006 and helped pass education laws including former Gov. Jeb Bush’s A++ plan.
Since that time, Arza said, the state has slowly chipped away at the heart of school choice reforms. (more…)
