School Choice & Charters

Fla. City Eyes More Charters

October 31, 2006 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Officials in Pembroke Pines, Fla., are contemplating an effort to convert 13 Broward County public schools into charters run by the city.

City commissioners voted last month in favor of studying the matter, and will be ready by March to vote on whether to move forward with the proposal to expand their charter school portfolio.

The city already operates seven charter schools, serving some 5,000 students. Those schools have consistently earned high rankings under the state’s accountability system and gained the city national notice for its venture into education. (“Using Charter Powers, Booming Fla. City Opts to Build Own Schools,” Sept. 24, 2003.)

City Manager Charles F. Dodge argues that the charters have been getting financially shortchanged by the 270,000-student Broward County district, which has a total of 48 charter schools. He also says the district has failed to deal with overcrowding in its regular public schools in Pembroke Pines.

The charter schools have long waiting lists, according to Mr. Dodge. “That tells you something about what we’re doing,” he said last week in an interview.

For any of the 13 regular public schools to convert to charter status, at least half the parents and half the faculty members at the school would have to vote in favor.

Mr. Dodge says the city’s charters receive about $6,300 per student. But when he does the math for the Broward district’s overall budget, the total per pupil in regular schools comes out to about twice that level, he contends.

“We’re saying, ‘Where is all this money going?’ ” he said. “What can be done better to put more money back in the classroom?”

“Conversion” charters would be in a stronger position financially, Mr. Dodge said, because unlike with the seven “start-up” charters the city operates, the Broward County system would be responsible for providing facilities and maintenance.

“If we didn’t have debt service, we would have $6 million to enhance programming in our [existing charter] schools,” he said.

Broward County school officials could not be reached for comment.

But school board member Marty Rubinstein recently told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper that the charter proposal might jeopardize district plans to build a new school in Pembroke Pines to relieve overcrowding. “Why in the world would I as a school board member want to build them a high school that they’re going to convert into a charter school?” he told the newspaper.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the November 01, 2006 edition of Education Week

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Choice & Charters Tracker Which States Have Private School Choice?
Education savings accounts, voucher, and tax-credit scholarships are growing. This tracker keeps tabs on them so you don't have to.
School Choice & Charters Opinion What's the State of Charter Schools Today?
Even though there's momentum behind the charter school movement, charters face many of the same challenges as traditional public schools.
10 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
School Choice & Charters As Private School Choice Grows, Critics Push for More Guardrails
Calls are growing for more scrutiny over where state funds for private school choice go and how students are faring in the classroom.
7 min read
Illustration of completed tasks, accomplishment, finished checklist, achievement or project progression concept. Person holding pencil tick all completed task checkbox.
Nuthawut Somsuk/iStock/Getty
School Choice & Charters How a District Hopes to Save an ESSER-Funded Program
As a one-time infusion of federal funding expires, districts are searching for creative ways to keep programs they funded with it running.
6 min read
Chicago charter school teacher Angela McByrd works on her laptop to teach remotely from her home in Chicago, Sept. 24, 2020.
Chicago charter school teacher Angela McByrd works on her laptop to teach remotely from her home in Chicago, Sept. 24, 2020. In Montana, a district hopes to save a virtual instruction program by converting it into a charter school.
Nam Y. Huh/AP