Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Florida charter schools and the lack of oversight | Seattle Education

Florida charter schools and the lack of oversight | Seattle Education:


Florida charter schools and the lack of oversight

This article first appeared in the Miami Herald last December but as I was going through my links preparing to write a post, I discovered that it was no longer available. Fortunately another source on the internet had copied it in full and I am doing the same here because it is a story to know about.
Florida Charter Schools: big money, little oversight
by Scott Hiaason and Kathleen McGrory
“School districts are limited in their authority over charter schools,” said Schuster, the Miami-Dade spokesman. “They have minimal ability to impose effective consequences.”
Preparing for her daughter’s graduation in the spring, Tuli Chediak received a blunt message from her daughter’s charter high school: Pay us $600 or your daughter won’t graduate.
She also received a harsh lesson about charter schools: Sometimes they play by their own rules.
During the past 15 years, Florida has embarked on a dramatic shift in public education, steering billions in taxpayer dollars from traditional school districts to independently run charter schools. What started as an