Florida Senate Will Be the Key Battleground on Charter School Legislation
Two news reports on yesterday’s Senate Education meeting yesterday provided tidbits which revealed the Senate’s cautious nature on charter school legislation. Lynn Hatters report in WFSU indicates the biggest fights will be over amendments as the committee wants to merge two “competing” bill. It appears that Parent Trigger will remain separate. Writes Hatters:
Florida Senator David Simmons (R-Maitland) wants to strengthen state laws governing financial transparency and accountability for charter schools. He says high-profile closures of charter schools due to failing grades and financial instability have hurt the charter school movement, “and if it keeps going on, I think the charter school movement will be significantly injured.”
Some proposals require local school districts share a portion of their building fund with charters or turn over unused facilities. Others place caps on payouts after a school closes. Both provisions are in a similar House charter school overhaul bill.
But the Senate proposals also work the other way around. For example, under a bill by Senator