Florida charter schools
CHARTER SCHOOLS: MISSING THE GRADE (four-part series), March 25-28, 2007, The Orlando (FL) Sentinel
--- PART 1: ACADEMIC TROUBLES ---
Risky choices: Many charters prove poor options
Pat and Tammy Rasmussen had no idea they'd sent their son Daniel to one of the lowest-performing schools in Florida [Richard Milburn Academy in New Port Richey] -- until he came home one day and said he was helping teach math class…
…Administrators offered to pay their son $50 for each friend he persuaded to join…
More than 300 charters teaching about 92,000 students have sprung up, funded by $1.5 billion in local, state and federal taxes in the past three years alone. Eighty schools are operating in Central Florida.
But a statewide investigation by the Orlando Sentinel found that while many charters serve children