Charter Schools USA Fails in Last Minute Attempt to Poach Seven Broward Schools
Pines City Manager Charlie Dodge sprung the deal at the last minute. From CBSMiami:
The question of whether to privatize the city run charter schools followed contract disputes between the Broward Teachers Union and city leaders who said the city doesn’t have enough money to run the highly-successful Pines Charter schools unless there are major salary cuts for the city’s 375 teachers.
Pines leaders have been warning that the city’s seven-school charter system for months that it was struggling financially. In recent weeks, the city asked its teachers, who are represented by BTU, to accept a pay cut that would cause them to be paid less than teachers who work for the much-larger Broward School District
As a result, Pembroke Pines city officials responded with the surprise plan to privatize by partnering with Charter Schools, USA, a Fort Lauderdale-based firm that is one of the nation’s