Florida lawmakers want to boost charter schools. Bills that would make it easier to convert public schools to charter schools have flown through the Republican-dominated Legislature this session. But Democrats worry that traditional public schools are losing funding as a result.
The Senate has approved a budget of roughly $9,000 per student per year. The money follows the students. It can go to private schools, charter schools, public schools or home schools.
As more families take advantage of the state’s school choice programs to send their kids to charter schools or private schools, traditional public schools are seeing fewer dollars -- and some school districts say they’re worried about paying their bills—especially in the wake of a law that two years ago removed income as a qualification for the state’s school voucher program and made private school affordable to many more Floridians.
“So, it’s this constant eating away at the public schools," says Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association. Take the money, give it to the vouchers. Take the schools, give it to the charters. And then what do we have left? We cannot end up with public schools that are schools of last resort."
Now lawmakers are focused on expanding charter schools.
"We need public schools which are a vital part of our community to be the vibrant meccas of learning that we expect and should expect for every child who lives in our community," Spar said.
Spar says money is behind these decisions, not the education of children. He says charter schools are usually run by private businesses.
“Now, they’re not going to take the public schools that are difficult, that have a lot of challenges, because maybe a lot of kids live in poverty or they have a lot of students with disabilities," he said. "They’re going to try to take the schools that are in the affluent community. They want to take those schools, the posh schools, if you will. And they want to run those schools -- and they want to make money off of it!”
But Niceville Republican Senator Don Gaetz, a former school superintendent, says school choice is about parental choice. He has a bill this session that could expand charter schools in Florida.
“This bill allows parents to opt to convert their children’s school to be a charter school," he said, "and it also allows local governments to establish job engine charter schools as part of an economic development and job growth strategy, and requires accountability for specific performance for those schools.”
The bill takes away the power for teachers to vote to convert to a public school and gives that to parents instead. While some have pushed against that idea, Gaetz says it makes sense.
"The bill allows parents to opt to convert their children’s school to be a charter school," he said. "The entirety of Florida education policy is wrapped around parental choice, and this is a parental choice.”
Coral Gables Republican Representative Demi Busatta is behind a bill that would expand charter schools that are dubbed “schools of hope.” They are schools that open in low-performing school districts and are intended to give children there another option. Some worry that such schools could cherry-pick their students, allowing them to perform better than the nearby traditional public school. But Busatta says that’s not happening.
“...and it is not a slow death to public education," she said. "Let’s get something right: schools of hope are public schools. The education that they provide: it is public education.”
Weston Democratic Representative Robin Bartleman, an educator, acknowledges there are failing public schools, and that the schools of hope proposal is intended to address them. But she says the problem is that charter schools don’t have to operate with the same requirements as public schools.
“The issue I have is that billions of dollars of taxpayer money is going, following students to schools where we have no idea if they are failing those students," she said. "That we have no idea if those students are learning to read. We have anecdotal evidence when they return years behind.”
As the legislative session comes to a close, a number of charter school bills are poised to head to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a supporter.
