The Florida board of education last week overruled the decisions of local school boards and decided that five charter schools rejected by the districts should be allowed to open.
The decisions were a rebuff to officials in Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Polk, and Brevard counties, who had said the charters, proposed to open in the fall, fell short of their standards.
The state legislature last year passed a law permitting successful charters to open schools in other districts unless a district had a valid reason to refuse.
Theodore Doran, a lawyer for the Volusia County schools, objected to what he characterized as the state board’s open favoritism for charter schools while the board was sitting as an appeals body.
