Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Acadamica Charter Schools Overstated Enrollment, Accused of “Double-Dipping” Taxpayer Money | Scathing Purple Musings

Acadamica Charter Schools Overstated Enrollment, Accused of “Double-Dipping” Taxpayer Money | Scathing Purple Musings:


Acadamica Charter Schools Overstated Enrollment, Accused of “Double-Dipping” Taxpayer Money

If Florida’s legislators are ever shamed into ending their charter school favoritism,  Miami Heraldreporters Kathleen McGrory and Scott Haisson will have played a role. The two investigative journalists were joined by colleague Shiaa Sen last weekend in a story which exposed the policy of double-dipping federal grant money by declaring two schools exist within the same facility
From the outside, it looks like a single school, with one main door, one security guard, one principal greeting students.
But on paper, the Charter School of Excellence at Tamarac is actually two schools in one — a bookkeeping strategy allowing the school to collect an extra $250,000 in grant money from the state.
The grant money is intended to help new charter schools get started. But several South Florida