http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-charter0708feb07,0,3033231.story
Florida's Senate Education Committee has given support to a public charter school reform bill that would require un-graded charter schools to increase disclosure of students' academic achievement and require the state to compare the performance of charters to traditional schools within the district. Currently about 43 percent of the state's 350 charter schools go un-graded, which is twice the proportion of district schools that receive no grade. Additionally, the bill would limit funding for charter schools that exceed state class-size requirements and it would allow school districts to intervene sooner if charter schools become financially troubled. Senate PreK-12 Education Chairman Don Gaetz applauded charter schools overall but said some have abused the system. "Oftentimes that leads to an extraordinary and wonderful maturing. . . . Sometimes, however, we've had extraordinary abuses." Charter school leader Bill Jones of the Manatee School for the Arts voiced some concerns about the bill. "It's one more attempt to make charter schools look like regular schools," he said. "I will admit there have been some abuses in the system. I'm just not sure that a shotgun blast is really what's needed."
Source: Orlando Sentinel (free registration required)
Date: 02/09/2008
Note: Please be aware that online publishers often change URLs or no longer provide access to articles after 7 days. If the above link no longer works, access the publishing newspaper and search the archives for the keywords in the subject matter. Good luck.
