Fla. school boards ponder tougher rules for new charter schools

Sun-Sentinel ^ | March 21 2005 | Karla D. Shores

[Crackingham]

After eight years of watching charter schools founder under financial problems, academic failure and mismanagement, South Florida school board members are pondering whether the alternative form of public education has become the Frankenstein's monster of school choice.

Palm Beach County tightened its contract with charter schools, while the district quietly considers limiting the annual number of schools allowed to open. The Broward County School Board also may make it harder for new charter schools to open, even as 16 new schools got the green light to operate this fall.

And school districts across the state snapped to attention after receiving a recent threat from the state's largest charter school consortium to sue the districts for money. Many charter school operators say they are too limited by the money granted to them by the state and want to tap into the property taxes that regular school districts collect.

Palm Beach County School Board member Monroe Benaim said the board is starting to pay attention to the impact charter schools may have on the district, simply because a large number of charter schools are being approved each year. That drains district schools of per-pupil funding from the state.

"In Palm Beach County we're talking about 46 schools, up from 37 last year, and we're losing about $50 million on them and that's quickly going to double," said Benaim. "We need to, first of all, go after fiscal accountability to make sure they're solvent before a mass amount of money is wasted."

[2banana]

"We need to, first of all, go after fiscal accountability to make sure they're solvent before a mass amount of money is wasted."

NOW - if we could only have these rules APPLY to public schools also...