When charter schools close, millions of state dollars vanish with them
BOYNTON BEACH —
When Charter School of Boynton Beach decided in 2010 to build its own campus in a corporate park, Florida taxpayers pitched in big time.
A special state program gave the privately run school hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to help pay off its construction costs.
But poor student performance forced the charter school to close four years later, and the state’s investment — totaling $1.7 million over the years — vanished with it. The Boynton Beach campus is now in foreclosure proceedings initiated by bondholders, with a foreclosure sale scheduled in January.
The school’s case hardly is isolated. Since 2001, a state program designed to help charter schools pay for classroom space and equipment has given more than $9 million to Palm Beach County charters that later shut down, state records show.
Statewide, the amount given to now-shuttered charters through the state program totals about $70 million, an Associated Press investigation shows.
ery little of that public money is ever recovered by the public schools, educators say. More often, the benefits end up going to private property owners or lenders.
The figures — compiled by the Florida Associated Press as part of a yearlong AP Managing Editors project examining national construction issues — underscore the complications involved in subsidizing charter schools, which are publicly financed but privately run.
Over the years, records show at least 21 charters in Palm Beach County have closed after pulling in money from the state’s program, called the Charter School Capital Outlay program.
Dolphins tickets
and principal’s car
Charter School of Boynton Beach took in more money than any other now-shuttered school. But records show plenty of others raked in six-figure subsidies before closing.
Among the top earners were the twin Survivors Charter School campuses, which ran up a list of questionable expenses before they were shut down by the Palm Beach County School Board in 2006.
Together, the two schools earned $2.4 million in state subsidies over five years. Before being closed by the School Board, auditors found that the schools spent money on Dolphins tickets and on payments for a principal’s BMW. Also, the schools transferred thousands of dollars to a private account.
Other former schools that raked in subsidies before closing included the Life Skill Center of Palm Beach ($934,000) and Joseph Littles-Nguzo Saba Charter School in West Palm Beach ($746,000).
Most charter schools that have been open for at least three years and don’t have low ratings qualify to bring in money through the state’s program, educators say.
Sometimes, charters use the money to buy equipment or supplies, such as computers, furniture or overhead projectors. More often, it is used to cover rent or pay off mortgages or construction loans.
That makes it difficult for the county school district to recover the public investment when a charter school closes.
“If that money has been used toward paying a lease, it’s almost like it disappeared,” said Jim Pegg, director of the Palm Beach County Palm Beach County charter schools' $9 million bill | www.mypalmbeachpost.com:
