House Panel Denies More Money For Charter Schools by John O'Connor -
Florida lawmakers agree on one issue: Charter schools need more money for renovations, equipment and software.
But House lawmakers have rejected a proposal that school districts say would take money from their traditional public schools and give it to charter schools.
Committee chairman Rep. Marti Coley, R-Marianna, said lawmakers need to find a funding solution for both types of schools.
“How do we treat all our public schools fairly? At this point I don’t see legislation that has completely satisfied that question.”
–Rep. Marti Coley, R-Marianna
“We have many policy issues that need to be discussed,” she said. “And that is how do we treat all our public schools fairly? At this point I don’t see legislation that has completely satisfied that question.”
The bill is the top priority of charter school advocacy groups this year, and supporters say they’re not giving up on it yet.Florida education advocacy groups including Citizens for Strong Schools, Fund Education Now, Save Duval Schools and Support Dade Schools issued this statement today praising the House Pre-K-12 Committee for defeating Rep. Janet Adkins’ amendment to HB 903.
Yesterday’s bi-partisan vote in the House Pre-K-12 Committee was a bold rejection of Rep. Adkins’ goal to hand our hard-earned public tax dollars over to for-profit charter developers to buy or improve private assets. This is the second failure by the House to pass this measure which was stripped from HB 903 by House K-20 Innovations days ago. Members of our alliance testified against companion bill SB 1852 last week in the Senate K-12 Education committee. That bill still gives public tax dollars away to for-profit corporations to buy and maintain assets the public will never own. We oppose any and all efforts by politicians to turn tax dollars over to private corporations who value profit over the children we love.
New Florida TaxWatch analysis reveals inequity in level of charter school funding. Florida’s charter schools receive an estimated 70 cents for every dollar of revenue per full-time student compared to traditional public schools, according to an analysis released today by Florida TaxWatch, the statewide nonpartisan, nonprofit taxpayer research institute and government watchdog.
The report shows that while approximately 1 in 15 Florida students will attend a charter school this year, there are significant differences in funding levels between charter school students and those at a traditional public school.
“This report shows that while charter schools are a viable alternative to the traditional public school model, the funding disparity puts those students whose parents have chosen a non-traditional option at a disadvantage, and the Legislature has the means to correct this inequity,” said Dominic M. Calabro, President & CEO of Florida TaxWatch. “Discovering and highlighting these research findings can help to reduce or correct this difference, and allow us to invest equally in each of our students, to ensure that each and every child has the chance to excel in the educational environment that best suits them and their parents. That is the essence of school choice and healthy competition.”
The report recommends several possible changes to ensure that allocated dollars for each student are passed directly to the appropriate institution to help provide funding parity between charter schools and traditional public schools, including adjusting state funding to account for locally-derived funding that is not available to charter schools specifically.
State Representative Janet Adkins, a strong supporter of charter school funding reforms said, “With a growing enrollment in charter public schools and the disparity in funding, the current model is not sustainable and must be addressed. I believe parents should have a choice in which public school their child attends and that choice should not result in less funding for that child’s school. I appreciate the thought-leadership shown by Florida TaxWatch in examining charter school funding and I remain committed to achieving equity in student funding for all students. We should not discriminate among public school students. There should be no winners or losers depending on the type of public schools our students attend.”
See the full analysis here.
This legislative term promises to be an important one for the state of Florida because of 6 very important bills that will be voted on by Florida Legislators, many of whom are up for re-election in redistricted or reapportioned districts. These bills will undoubtedly impact every important issue in the state especially Florida's economy, public rating, and education.
Brainstorming sessions and multiple solutions are being examined by legislators to find ways to compenstate for the 18.1 percent deficient that resulted from previous cuts to schools' budgets. Legislators are collaboratively working with Governor Rick Scott to creatively identify solutions in which at least 1 billion dollars could be added to the budget in order to implement new reforms and extend the economic recovery of school districts in the state of Florida. Some legislators oppose the idea and are still actively searching for a less expensive way to address the problem of the financial shortfall that still exists for the states' schools. Click here to read the full article. BKHM can help charter schools with any questions regarding these current issues.
A national charter advocacy group has ranked Florida's charter law third-friendliest in the country, down from second last year.
The annual report from the Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ranks the country's 42 charter laws.
The best charter law, according to the group, is the one in Maine.
The group faulted Florida's laws for not providing charters with equal funding or access to facilities, though proposals in the state House and Senate would change that.
Lauren RothOrlando SentinelJanuary 17, 2012