Ruling Threatens Public Charter School Approvals in Florida

http://www.bradenton.com/186/story/1079867.html

Last week, a three-judge panel of the First District Court of Appeal in Florida struck down a 2006 law that allows public charter school developers to sidestep the state's county school boards by getting their charters approved by a state commission. The law creating the Schools of Excellence Commission is in “total and fatal conflict” with the Florida Constitution, which gives the local boards, not the state, authority over public schools, Judge Edward T. Barfield wrote in the unanimous opinion. "This statute permits and encourages the creation of a parallel system of free public education escaping the operation and control of local elected school boards," Barfield wrote. The ruling came in an appeal by the Duval County School District, one of 14 that challenged the law after the State Board of Education denied their requests to retain exclusive jurisdiction over public charter schools. The law allowed such exceptions, but the state board denied a total of 28 requests while granting only three to local boards in Orange, Polk and Sarasota counties. Bill Jones, who heads the 1,150-student Manatee School for the Arts, said many public charter schools are in favor of the idea of a separate governing body because of the challenges in getting approval from the local school boards. "What it (the ruling) does, is it does away with the competition issue," Jones said. "Under the current system, it’s like McDonald's getting to decide where Burger King gets to open."

Source: The Bradenton Herald
Date: 12/05/2008