Florida leads the states who are testing worksite charter schools for company kids
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A rarely applied experiment in education enabling companies to host taxpayer-funded charter schools for their employees’ children may be about to spread.
Florida is the only state bringing business-backed charter schools to work sites so far. The first launched in 1999, across the street from the Ryder truck rental company’s headquarters near Miami.
Louisiana and Connecticut laws also encourage these charters. Louisiana’s first school, partly financed by a hospital, is slated to open next year. And now North Carolina lawmakers are weighing a law copied from Louisiana’s.
Charter schools are free public schools, funded with tax dollars corresponding to student enrollment, but they operate independently and are exempt from most state regulations. Supporters say they encourage classroom innovation by creating competition with traditional public schools; critics say charters drain away resources.
Workplace charter schools have been slow to catch on because they don’t offer clear returns for company investment or benefits to employees who would enroll their children, said Samuel Abrams, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia University.
On-site preschools are embraced by workers because they can drop in during breaks and check on their young children, alleviating worries about the quality of care, Abrams said. Florida leads the states who re testing worksite charter schools for company kids: