Editorial: The cost of closed charter schools
When Gainesville parents and teachers must buy their own paint to spruce up public school classrooms, it makes it even more galling that the state wastes millions on the facilities of failing charter schools.
Such is the situation facing Alachua County and other communities throughout Florida. Charter schools in 30 school districts in the state have closed after receiving as much as $70 million in state capital funding, according to an Associated Press report published Sunday in The Sun.
Charter schools, which are public schools run by private groups, used the money for construction costs, rent payments and even property insurance. Taxpayers recovered just $133,000 in the last three years because most of the money was already spent on those costs, the AP reported.
The Sun reported a similar situation is happening in Alachua County. One third of the 21 charter schools operating in the county since 2009 have closed, taking $1.2 million in state funding for facilities with them.
For three of those years, local public schools didn’t get a dime of facility funding from the state. That has led to heating and cooling systems breaking down and aging public school facilities otherwise falling into disrepair.
It has gotten so bad that parents and other volunteers have taken matters into their own hands. Last summer, Howard Bishop Middle School parents and teachers paid for their own paint to fix up classrooms there.
Part of the problem is the state’s antiquated way for funding school facility improvements. The Public Education Capital Outlay trust fund is generated by a tax on utilities and communication services, but has shrunk due to energy conservation and disappearing landline phones.Editorial: The cost of closed charter schools | Gainesville.com: