Florida lawmakers have a spate of charter school bills on the agenda this year. Many of them are continuation of issues about accountability that have cropped up in the past. Now the Senate is considering what to keep, what to toss, and whether the proposals should be merged together.
There are proposals to expand charter schools, proposals to restrict them. There’s also a plan to have a university study charters.
“There was a similar institute at the University of South Florida, 15 years ago, when charter schools first started….that has since, no longer exist," Senate K-12 Education Committee Chairman John Legg explained to committee members earlier in the week.
The idea is to create a charter school institute at Florida State University to study best practices for charters. But Sen. Nancy Detert (R-Venice) says maybe FSU isn’t the place for it.
“Now that we have President Thrasher, is everything going to go to Florida State? Other universities could establish it," she said.
FSU’s new president is former State Senator John Thrasher. The idea, though, is a good one, says Sen. Bill Montford (D-Tallahassee). He also thinks the mission of the institute should expand to public schools.
“It would behoove us to pick the best of what’s going on with charter schools so we can share that with the traditional public schools as well," he said. "I think it goes the other way as well. I think we’re at a point in our choice and charter schools program that it can go the other way as well."
Lawmakers have a long list of charter school proposals—nearly a dozen, and not all will get through the process. Some issues have general consensus. Such as a bill by Democratic Senator Eleanor Sobel, which would require more scrutiny of charter school operators—some of which are for-profit. Sobel’s bill would keep charter operators that have had previous failures in Florida and other states—from establishing new schools. And that’s a move endorsed by Republicans.
“If your running a poor charter school today, why should you open up a new one?” Said Legg.
“So if you failed in Texas and Indiana, I certainly wouldn’t support you opening a school in Florida. Would that count?” Detert asked.
It would, Sobel says. But there are other provisions charter school supporters CAN’T get behind. Like a bill by Senator Montford that requires charter schools to prove there is a need in a school district before starting up.
“I’m wondering if you’re getting at something deeper, and you and I can have a conversation about this as old friends," Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) began. "Isn’t the need for parents to make a choice for their children’s education, need enough?”
Advocates on both sides of the debate are lining up to defend their position on charter schools. The schools are part of local districts, but are free of many of the same rules that govern traditional public schools. In recent years, charters have also gotten a piece of the funds that usually go to only traditional schools for construction. The industry has also been able to grow quicker, thanks to new laws that provide a fast-track to certain charter operators based on their prior performance.
But there have also been some high profile charter school failures—especially in South Florida. Senate K-12 Chairman John Legg says he’s trying to find a balance. "The reality of the time frame we have…in this committee—not all will make it through the process and for this committee to get its arms around.”
The bills could either be heard independently, or gathered into one massive proposal.
