A bill that would allow a public school to be more readily converted into a charter school is heading for the House floor. The proposal received fierce but futile pushback in its last House committee stop.
Under the measure, teachers would no longer have a vote about whether a public school should be converted to a charter school. That decision would instead lie with parents whose children have attended the school for at least two years.
The bill “...allows a municipality for the first time to apply to convert a public school within their jurisdiction into a charter school if they meet certain specific requirements," said Pensacola Republican Representative Alex Andrade, the House sponsor.
Under his bill, local governments could apply for a conversion if a school earns below an “A” for five consecutive years. Those schools would then become “job engine charter schools” aimed at attracting job-producers and training students for local workforce needs.
Gainesville Democratic Representative Yvonne Hayes Hinson questioned Andrade on the measure during a recent committee hearing.
“Does removing the teacher vote from the charter conversion silence the educator voices in critical school decisions or could you tell me why you decided to do that?,” she asked.
“I believe that’s more of a math issue," he said. "Let’s say there’s one teacher for every 30 students in a school. Conceivably, it would take a fraction, a minute fraction, of teachers voting against the conversion to overrule the vote of the parents of the children within that school. So there was an imbalance that I believe this bill would correct.”
Despite Andade’s answer, Hayes Hinson told committee members she has serious concerns about the bill
“Members," she said, "what we’re watching in real time is a full-throttle takeover of our public schools and the privatization of them into charters.”
And she’s not the only one. Jude Bruno, president-elect of the Florida PTA, also spoke before the committee.
“It hands over power without all the accountability metrics that our school districts and our parents fight for, and it risks further destabilizing our neighborhood schools,” said Bruno.
Bruno also worries the state could pave the way for conversions by changing the measurement for what is an “A” school.
“Who sets the grading formula?," he asks. "The state. And it changes that formula or considers them often. So, a school’s fate could rest on shifting metrics, not actual student success. This allows for takeovers that may not actually reflect the realities on the grounds in our public schools.”
The measure passed 11-4.
Andrade’s bill is headed for the House floor. A similar bill in the Senate has passed two committees and faces one more.
