Troubled charter schools getting new scrutiny from cities
New charter schools will have to show they have the resources to last a full school year before Lauderhill officials will let them open for business, under proposed rules city commissioners will consider Monday.
Officials say they've learned a lesson from financially unstable schools that go belly-up within months of opening, a pattern that disrupts student education and creates chaos for families.
More than three dozen South Florida charter schools have gone out of business or been ordered to close since the fall of 2012, with at least 10 lasting two months or less. A Sun Sentinel investigation last year found it doesn't take much for operators to get taxpayer dollars to open a charter school and it's difficult for school districts to track how those dollars are spent.
"The School Board is powerless," Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan said. "They don't have the authority to do what they feel they need to do."
Some cities are preparing to step into the void and demand more accountability to protect their residents, saying they cannot treat the charters as typical public schools.
Sunrise and Lauderhill imposed moratoriums on new charter schools this year to have time to develop new rules. Tamarac approved some changes last year, including requiring new schools to be on a minimum 3-acre site, in free-standing buildings and to have dedicated drop-off areas for students.
Lauderhill's proposal includes some of the most comprehensive regulations so far, going beyond zoning and traffic safety considerations to look at an organization's financial resources, educational background, criminal history and past track record running charter schools. If approved Monday, the changes will come back before commissioners for final approval in June.
"We have to address a bad situation. It's virtually outrageous what's going on," Kaplan said. "If the pendulum swings too far, you've got a situation where students and parents are not getting the education they're supposed to get, and on top of that, they're put in an unsafe situation."
Some charter school proponents say existing state and school district regulations are sufficient, that cities should work with local districts and not create new hoops for schools to jump through.
"There's so many checks and balances for a charter school," said Lynn Norman-Teck, spokeswoman for the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools. "It just seems that some cities want to restrict parental choice and the growth of charter schools."
Keith Poliakoff, an attorney who has represented about 20 charter schools over the past few years, said he understands why cities are looking at new rules, even though charter schools have been part of the state's educational landscape for a generation.
"A lot of municipalities just had no regulations," Poliakoff said. "That put them in the situation they're in today, where unfortunately they've been burned by charter schools that were not being properly run or managed."
Poliakoff said the new rules might not withstand a court challenge because they could run afoul of state laws "that give charter schools so much protection." But he said recent court rulings have been favorable to cities.
Tamarac last year rejected the charter high school application of one of Poliakoff's clients, American Charter Development. The company sought to force the city to reconsider its decision, but lost its challenge in Broward Circuit Court and on appeal in April to Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal.
Under Lauderhill's proposed rules, charter schools would not be able to come in at the last minute and expect city approval. Applications would have to be filed in December for schools planning to open the following September.
Operators have to show they have the finances to cover any potential losses, the success or failure of their previous charter school ventures, and evidence they are qualified to run a school.
Proposed locations will have to meet a minimum 1,000-foot separation between schools serving primary and secondary students. They must also must meet minimum per-student space requirements for classes, lunches and outdoor areas.
The regulations also cover student safety and require information about how the school will ensure surrounding properties are protected both before and after school as students are arriving and leaving.Lauderhill plans tighter regulation of charter schools - Sun Sentinel:
