To be clear, I’m not advocating for DeSantis style vouchers that:
1. Have no income requirements similar to income requirements of food stamps.
2. Can be used at private schools that don’t subsidize the tuition for low income students who can’t afford the tuition not covered by the voucher
3. Can be used at private schools that don’t subject themselves to the same testing requirements that are required of public schools.
4. Can be used at private schools that don’t follow the state’s non-discrimination laws or request RFRA type exemptions from federal non-discrimination laws.
5. Can be used by parents claiming to use the money for homeschooling BUT with very little accountability by Step Up for Students who is supposed to be monitoring how the money is being used. Couple this with a new state law reducing the protections in child labor laws allowing home schooled children to work 60 hours a week.
I just see charter school grifters that spread lies about the public schools and seek more and more public dollars for their operation. An excellent bill was proposed in the last legislative session and the Republican committee chairs wouldn’t even put it on their agenda. Good charter schools should have come out in support of the bill. Charter school grifters are giving the charter school movement a bad name. The bill aimed to insist that charter schools prove that public dollars designated for capital outlay (assets) were spent in a responsible way. Here’s a little about the bill:
I sent this to a person in the district who should know the answer, but I haven’t received a reply:
I interpret Florida Statute 1013.62(5) to say that all unencumbered funds and the assets purchased with capital outlay taxes should revert to the school district if the charter school closes. Is that a correct interpretation? I’ve also read that when charter schools close, there is usually nothing much of value left. Has that proven to be true in Jacksonville? Part of the reason is many charter schools lease the property rather than own it—in other words the building isn’t subject to f.s. 1013.62(5)
Employees of charter schools showed up at the April 2 school board meeting advocating for real public schools to close based on utilization percentage. Do we know the utilization percentages for charter schools?
This shows utilization for every real public school in Duval County:
https://duvalcosb.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2811/files/attachment/22802
And here’s the latest grades for every real public and charter school in Duval County. Voucher funded private schools don’t have to participate in the grading system. I downloaded and sorted this back in December so anything with an “I“ (incomplete) may have been adjusted since then:
https://1drv.ms/x/c/f89f3e381895e41f/ER_klRg4Pp8ggPgCBAAAAAAB7AgJppAIibdwo5lQLfFScw
Unite Us Do Not Divide Us 