Charter Schools Want New School Authorization Process to be Uniform Statewide
April 24th, 2018 by Jake Stofan
In the state’s capital city and elsewhere in the state, charter organizations are facing an uphill battle to get authorization to open schools from local school boards.
Superintendent of Leon County Schools, Rocky Hanna is leading the fight to deny two pending applications, arguing there are already enough schools in the county.
“So it puts us in a precarious situation where we’re actually going to approve tax dollars being spent to build student stations that are simply not needed,” said Hanna.
Matthew Gunderson is the Director of School Improvement for Plato Academy Schools.
“We have two counties that have approved this identical application and for some reason in Leon it’s caused a great amount of unrest,” said Gunderson.
He says the road blocks are the main reason why charter schools are backing a constitutional amendment slated for the November ballot.
It would create a new state entity authorized to approve new charter schools, sidestepping local districts.
“To have have a state authorizer would make it more objective and more fair,” said Gunderson.
Public school advocates say the amendment would set up a parallel school system, which would compete with the current public system for funding.
As it stands charter schools already have an option to appeal to the state if their application is denied by a local school board.
“So why make a change,” argued State Senator and head of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, Bill Montford. “Why put another education system, an authority if you will, a dual system in Florida?”
Florida is behind only California and Texas in the number of charter schools and the number off students who attend them.
The amendment on the November ballot also includes term limits for school board members and mandatory civics education for Florida students.
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