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Sunday, December 11, 2011

Daily Kos: Florida charter schools: big money, little oversight

Daily Kos: Florida charter schools: big money, little oversight:

Florida charter schools: big money, little oversight

Florida’s charter school movement has grown into $400-million-a-year powerhouse backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians, but with little oversight.

That is the opening paragraph of this Miami Herlad article, whose title I borrowed for this post.

This has been a deliberate expansion over the past 15 years. As the article notes,

What started as an educational movement has turned into one of the region’s fastest-growing industries, backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians.

But while charter schools have grown into a $400-million-a-year business in South Florida, receiving about $6,000 in taxpayer dollars for every student enrolled, they continue to operate with