The Monday following the July 4th holiday weekend marked a significant time for public schools in Florida. With four weeks left until the new school year, school districts and public charter schools were on the final approach to announce their school reopening plans to parents and students.
Then they were hit with a bombshell.
Late that same Monday afternoon, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced an emergency order (EO-06) directing public schools in Florida to reopen in August and offer “the full panoply of services for the benefit of Florida students and families.”
The order also directed that “all school boards and charter school governing boards must open brick and mortar schools at least five days per week for all students.” There were even comments made by Department spokespeople that a reduction in funding is possible for schools that do not fully open as scheduled.
As school districts and charter schools researched and discussed school reopening options, the Florida Department of Education jumped into the school reopening pool. This caused school districts and charter schools to put the brakes on rolling out their nearly completed school reopening plans for the fall.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis backed the order to open schools in the fall fully.
Under the emergency order, school districts and public charter schools must submit their reopening plans demonstrating their adherence to all the directives outlined in the order. School districts must submit their proposals to the Department of Education for approval by July 31st. Public charter schools are required to submit their plans to their school district partners for approval by July 24th.
This order directing a full reopening of schools in the fall was a body blow for many local school leaders. After spending months getting input from parents and stakeholders, and continually monitoring CDC guidelines, districts and charter schools thought they had adequately threaded the needle and were ready to offer parents appropriate options for the upcoming school year.
The emergency order may have come from what should be an apolitical state agency but landed squarely in the political sphere when a few hours later, President Trump wrote on Twitter saying, “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!”
Critical remarks followed this during a CNN interview from Fedrick Ingram, the head of the Florida Education Association, the 130,000-member statewide teacher’s union advocating for a slower return to fully reopening schools. Pointing particularly to Florida teachers aged 60 and over, Ingram criticized the plan saying, “…this is a matter of life or death,” and Governor DeSantis showed a “lack of leadership.” Ingram said what was needed was a plan that was “robust, comprehensive, and guided by the science” and referenced the most recent increases in COVID infections and hospitalizations in the state.
Some school districts have since reiterated they would not alter their plans, citing their constitutional authority granting them local control over schools within their district. Broward County Schools have said they would offer parents and students options, including continuing virtual education. Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties school leaders have said they do not see how their schools can open for classroom instruction considering the levels of COVID infections in South Florida hot spots.
Unlike school districts, public charter schools do not have constitutional authority giving them control of their schools. They will have a more difficult task as they try to walk the line between directions from their particular school districts and trying to meet the requirements of the emergency order.
This issue will continue to be a politically hot issue for the next several weeks, and the final chapter of this story is still yet to be done known.
2020 Legislative Regular Session Update: A Win for Florida Charter Schools
For the fourth year in a row, Florida’s Regular Legislative Session was forced into overtime, but in the end, Florida charter schools came out with a win-win.
It is said that laws are like sausages – it is best not to see them being made.
And in this case, policy and budget differences between the two chambers forced an extension of Session past the scheduled 60 days. But in the end, the differences were resolved and the Legislature passed a $93.2 billion budget for the 2020/2021 fiscal year along with associated education policy.
Here are a few highlights that impact Florida’s public charter schools.
Teacher Pay
Legislative members went into the start of Session following the Governor’s call to spend nearly $1 billion for teacher salary increases and bonuses. Negotiations between the two chambers continued until the very last scheduled day of Session with the goal of trying to get to where the Governor wanted things to be. Lawmakers finally settled on a total of $500 million and agreed-upon language as to how school districts and charter schools must apply their share of the dollars, directing $400 million to increase minimum pay for all teachers and $100 million to raises for veteran teachers. They couldn’t, however, manage to get a bonus plan passed.
School districts and charter schools must use 80% of their share of the salary allocation to increase minimum base salary for all full-time classroom teachers and certified pre-kindergarten teachers to $47,500 or the maximum amount achievable based on the allocation. School districts and charter schools must use 20% of their share of the allocation to provide salary increases to full-time classroom teachers and certified prekindergarten teachers who did not receive an increase or who received an increase of less than 2% as a result of increasing the minimum base salary.
School Safety
First the first time since the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School that occurred in February of 2018, the Legislature failed to pass major school safety policy. Legislation was introduced at the beginning of Session that would have implemented a number of recommendations from the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission but lawmakers just could not get it across the finish line before Session ended.
However, one school safety-related bill did manage to make it through. Lawmakers approved a measure that would mandate that all public schools implement a mobile panic alert system that would communicate with first responder agencies beginning in the 2020/2021 school year. The legislation also directs the Florida Department of Education to work through the procurement process to identify a single state-wide solution. However, school districts and charter schools would not be forced to use any particular solution recommended by the department if they choose a different vendor or have already installed systems on their own ahead of this policy going into effect.
Funding Florida Charter Schools
Lawmakers agreed to an education budget totaling close to $22.7 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. The budget funds $7,839.58 per student, an increase of $183.62 from current year per-student spending. Also included in the budget is an increase of $40 per student in the Base School Allocation which are the unrestricted dollars available to school districts and charter schools that can be used for general operations.
Lawmakers also approved its annual tax package that includes a measure that would require school districts to share discretionary sales surtax revenues with eligible charter schools. These funds come from voter-approved sales tax referendums and must be shared with charter schools based on their proportionate share of the total school district enrollment. These shared funds must be used for fixed capital expenditures at individual charter schools.
Even with the overhang of the spread of COVID-19, this Legislative Session ended up being very positive for charter schools. Teachers will get a pay raise. Students will be better protected. Schools will get more student and facilities funding. This is truly a win-win-win for Florida charter schools.
Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We help schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources charter schools need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most – educating students. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $2 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!
2020 Florida Legislative Season Mid-Session Update: Teacher Salaries and Retention
In this blog post, we’re examining the complex topic of teacher salaries and how they impact teacher retention, both in the state of Florida and across the nation.
Who will be left to teach our kids? The teaching profession in K-12 education nationwide is shrinking and it is a matter of simple economics…supply and demand.
In Florida, close to forty percent of new teachers leave the classroom within the first five years in the profession, 15 to 20 percent above the national average. Working conditions play a big factor in their decision—conditions including how much we pay our teachers.
In our blog post last December, we reported on Florida’s Governor’s plan to allocate over $600 million in the upcoming year’s budget to increase the minimum salaries for Florida’s public-school teachers as a way to increase teacher retention. Since then, the Legislature has been working to find a way to achieve the Governor’s goal, or at least get as close as possible.
Explaining education funding in Florida would require a discussion far outside the confines of this blog post but suffice it to say that the state gives school districts specific money for specific purposes, and school districts are not allowed to use funds outside of those designations. Also, the state does not directly fund teacher salaries. They appropriate funds that school districts use at their discretion in collective bargaining negotiations with the teacher unions—which do set teacher pay.
Now that we are at the mid-point in the annual legislative session, both the House and Senate have published their initial budgets, and both have created a new funding silo specifically for teacher pay but each chamber has its own idea of how the money should be allocated.
In their respective budgets, both the House and Senate create a special allocation with the Senate allocating $500 million and the House allocating $650 million for school districts to use to increase the minimum salary for classroom teachers. However, they differ in the manner they are going to allow school districts to use this new funding silo.
The House’s Plan
The House special allocation sets aside $500 million and would allow districts to use their share of that allocation to increase the minimum base salary for beginning full-time teachers and ensure that no minimum base salary on the district’s salary schedule is less than the new minimum set for beginning teachers. If a school district’s salary schedule has no base salary below $50,000 for a full-time teacher, then they can use any remaining funds from their allocation for other instructional personnel and educational support employees.
The additional $150 million in the House special allocation would be available for districts to use for salary increases to teachers who did not receive a salary increase as a result of the district increasing the minimum base salary.
The Senate’s Plan
The Senate offers a different plan allowing districts to use 80% of their allocation to increase minimum salary for full-time teachers to a goal of $47,500. If the district achieves this goal or is already at or above that minimum salary but has not increased salaries by 10%, then they must use the remaining dollars from the 80% allocation to increase salaries by at least 10%. The other 20% of the allocation is to be used to provide salary increases for other instructional personnel including certified prekindergarten teachers.
The final details will be worked out between the two chambers when budget conference meetings begin in a few weeks, but however it turns out in the end, teachers—including teachers in public charter schools—could see more money in their pocket very soon.
2020 Florida Legislative Season Kickoff Update: Teacher Pay
2020 Florida legislative season update: Could mean big things for teacher pay.
Florida is ranked 26th in the nation. No, not in college football, but in teacher pay.
According to statistics from the National Education Association in Washington, DC, Florida’s average starting teacher pay at $37,636 ranks 26th in the nation. In early October, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rolled out a legislative proposal to change that statistic by giving a pay raise to over 100,000 teachers in public schools across the state.
The Governor is recommending the state invest over $600 million to increase the minimum salary to $47,500 that would raise Florida’s ranking to 2nd in the nation.
But much like football, governing is a team sport, and in this case, not all the players are working from the same playbook.
Shortly after the Governor’s announcement at a traditional public school in Clay County, the Speaker of the Florida House responded by issuing a press release that said the Governor’s request will be “properly considered” during the upcoming Regular Legislative Session—not exactly a ringing endorsement. Following the Speaker’s press release, the leadership at the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, issued their own press release calling the proposal a “step in the right direction” but that more attention (and money) should be directed to veteran teachers. Again, lukewarm support (at best) of DeSantis’s pay plan.
In addition to restructuring teacher pay, the Governor has also proposed eliminating the current state-funded teacher/principal bonus programs and reallocate those state dollars to a new bonus scheme that focuses more on learning gains and retaining highly effective teachers in Title I schools.
So, what does this all mean for charter schools?
First, the good news. Any legislative policy and/or appropriations addressing salary and performance bonus payments for public school teachers also applies to teachers in public charter schools. This means that under the Governor’s proposal, teachers in public charter schools (currently making less than $47,500 per year) would be eligible for a salary increase the same as their traditional district school counterparts and would also be eligible for bonus money if they meet the eligibility requirements.
But the flip side of the coin is not as rosy.
In order to fund teacher’s pay raises, the legislature would have to appropriate state dollars to school districts who negotiate teacher salaries with local teacher unions through a collective bargaining process. Current legislators are not able to bind future legislators, so any money in the next year’s budget for teacher salary is not necessarily guaranteed in future years.
This could mean charter schools that give pay increases to teachers using potential one-time money would then have to fund those increased salaries in future years without government funds if the state does not provide this appropriation in future years. This could potentially put a charter school in an awkward position of having to rescind salary increases or make cuts in other areas such as operations or capital improvements to continue to fund the personnel costs.
We all love payday, but in the case of the 2020 Florida legislative season, the devil is in the details and legislators have some tough decisions to make in the upcoming session when it comes to teacher pay.
Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We help schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources charter schools need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most – educating students. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $2 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!
Florida Legislative Update for the Start of 2020: School Security
Here is your Florida Legislative Update:
Since the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Valentine’s Day in 2018, the Florida Legislature has been grappling with some very weighty issues regarding school security.
Prior to the events in Parkland, Florida lawmakers had not considered serious changes regarding K-12 school security other than annually funding the Safe Schools Allocation incorporated into the state’s FTE school funding. Since then lawmakers have spent the last two legislative sessions crafting new policy and adding additional state funds to provide resources to harden school facilities, increase mental health services, provide better law enforcement tools, and increase school resource officers on school campuses.
These policy changes and additional state funds were certainly needed and were put in place to protect students and teachers and ease parent’s minds about sending their children to school each day.
The problem is that most of these changes cost money, and in many cases much more money than the Legislature is able to appropriate, leaving it to school districts and charter schools to figure out how to pay for these new mandates. Charter schools feel the biggest pinch of all when it comes to financial resources, and now it may have cost a school its charter.
Since 2018, Florida law has required all schools have a sworn law enforcement officer or trained guardian on school premises during school hours. Championship Academy of Distinction in Davie was having issues with securing a full time, certified security officer the first day of the school this August.
After investigating the situation, Broward County Schools determined Championship was in violation of state law and voted to immediately terminate the charter contract with the school’s governing board and assume its operations. This is the first time a Florida school district has terminated a charter school contract for this reason and in such a quick fashion.
Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran was critical of the board’s action and sent a letter to the Broward School Superintendent recommending alternatives to immediate termination, but at the present the School Board has not altered its position and continues to run the charter school as a district school. The charter school governing board has filed an appeal and has asked for an expedited hearing, but the case has yet to be taken up by the Division of Administrative Hearings.
This unprecedented decision by the Broward County School Board to take over a charter for security reasons, while arguably allowed under current statute, is sending a chill throughout charter schools around the state and is bound to have statewide ramifications regarding school security.
This has also caught the attention of a number of state legislators.
The Florida Senate President sent signals in early August that he intends to pass some form of gun legislation this session and has said all options are on the table as his chamber reviews the various factors involved in mass shootings. The school security issue is sure to factor into these major policy discussions in the upcoming legislative committee weeks leading up to the regular legislative session beginning in January.
There is no disagreement over the importance of school security. How the state achieves the proper balance of “stick versus carrot” in achieving a suitable outcome still seems to be further into the future. Let’s hope the state legislature can find that balance sooner rather than later for the good of all of us involved with ensuring that our public K-12 education system supports the needs of all students.
Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We help schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources charter schools need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most – educating students. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.8 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!
CHARTER EDtalk: The State of Florida Charter Schools
We wanted to check in on the state of Florida charter schools, so in this CHARTER EDtalk, Matthew Gardner, Charter School Capital Client Service Representative, had the privilege of sitting down with Larry Williams, Owner and Managing Partner at Larry Williams Consulting, LLC. Larry shares his expert insights on the state of Florida Charter Schools including their history and growth trajectories, performance rankings, obstacles they’re facing, and what the future looks like for charter schools in Florida.
To learn more about the state of Florida’s charter schools, please watch the video below or read the complete transcript below.
Matthew Gardner: Hello there, and thank you for joining us for this episode of Charter Ed Talks. I’m Matthew Gardner at Charter School Capital, and today we’re honored to be joined by Larry Williams to discuss the state of charter schools in sunny Florida.
So thank you for joining us, and we’re going to go ahead and just jump right in and kick things off.
So, Larry, taking the temperature of Florida, when did charter schools first appear on Florida’s educational landscape?
Larry Williams: The first charter school law for Florida was passed in 1996, which was also the same year that the first charter school opened, which was in Liberty City in the Miami area.
Actually, a group of parents there, in partnership with the future Florida governor Jeb Bush, opened that charter school in Florida. So that became the first charter school.
After that, then charter schools continued to grow. Somewhat at a slow pace there, but that was the very first one, the same year as the first charter school law was passed.
Gardner: Excellent, excellent. Thank you. What’s been the path of charter school growth since first being introduced in the state?
Williams: The charter school growth in Florida over the course of time, from 1996 to present, has been very good. From 1996 to probably 2012, 2014, that time frame there, almost a rocket pace. I mean, very steep growth rate.
Since then, over the last several years, we continue to see charter schools open. However, the rate of growth has slowed down somewhat, so we’re not seeing as many charter schools open every year. Net positive, though. We’re still seeing more charter schools open than we are seeing closed.
Gardner: Okay.
Williams: So, overall, our growth rate has gone down, but we still have significant numbers. We’re probably the third largest state. Well, we’re the third largest state, population. We have the third largest total of charter schools – over 660 charter schools servicing about 295,000 students in the state of Florida.
Gardner: Right. Wow. Excellent. How would you say the Florida charter school performance ranks with charter schools in other states?
Williams: They’re probably right around … probably very similar to their ranking with the National Charter School Alliance data on the model laws, right around number seven. So they’re in the top ten. So their performance is within top ten of other charter schools in the country.
Washington, D.C. pretty much leads the nation, but certainly with more charter schools, then we have a lot more accountability issues that we have to deal with.
Gardner: Right.
Williams: We can talk about some particular problems there. But, overall, about number six or number seven, compared to other schools in the country.
Gardner: That’s great. What do you feel is the biggest obstacle for new charter schools opening in the state?
Williams: Very interesting. If you listened to Nina Rees’s comments [at the National Charter Schools Conference] about how first people ignore you, then they’ll make fun of you, then they’ll try to brush you away, then they start fighting you, and then you try to win, we are now at a stage where we’re, in the charter school environment, having to take on the traditional public schools, the teachers’ unions, and others.
Gardner: Right.
Williams: Very, very serious. They put significant money, put significant resources behind advocating for traditional schools, as opposed to charters – not just allowing charters to be part of their portfolios, but, actually, it’s an us against them, more so than we’ve ever seen.
So that’s a very big obstacle. Another obstacle is the folks that they’re advocating to – traditionally those that are on the left side of the aisle, where you would think that those folks would be more supportive of charter schools, particularly into the student population that these folks generally represent.
But it’s not. It’s definitely a Republican vs. Democrat issue, with Republicans being solidly behind it, Democrats not, because they’re supported a lot by teachers’ unions and school districts and school board members and so forth.
Gardner: Right.
Williams: So that’s probably the biggest obstacle that I see right now, is an elevated effort by traditional public schools and traditional districts to really limit charter schools – new charter schools and present charter schools.
Gardner: Okay. That was definitely leading into my next question. So does that also affect schools that are currently in operation and open right now?
Williams: Yes, and the Florida legislature has worked very hard to walk right I call kind of a tightrope, but being in favor of strong accountability measures, but not wanting to kill the gnat with a sledgehammer type of attitude.
We have one of the statues in Florida … or the charter statute in Florida says when you get a second F, two Fs on a charter school, you have to close the charter school.
Gardner: Right.
Williams: We have a number of traditional schools in Florida who have received F, F, F, F, F, F. They may have a turnaround plan, but they just continue to operate. The legislature’s tried to kind of move that, kind of limit their choices in doing that, having certain turnaround plans, and one of those is opening up to a charter school.
We did that in Jefferson County. The State Board of Education saw just persistently failing schools there and finally toward the school board of Jefferson County … It’s like, “You have no choice. You have to turn this into a charter district. That’s the only thing we can approve.”
Since then, they’ve gone from an F to a C in their first year of operation, on less dollars than what the school district was operating on before.
Gardner: Right.
Williams: So we’ve seen where, with the right environment, that those kids are certainly capable of learning. Also, kids that were leaving Jefferson County, going to Leon County and other counties to get to better schools, where their parents were sending them, are now coming back to Jefferson. So they’re seeing their student populations increase. So we’ve proven that we can do that.
Gardner: True.
Williams: So the legislature’s worked very hard to make it as level a playing field as possible and then hold districts more accountable for those persistently low failing schools that they have.
Gardner: That’s excellent. All right. So, lastly, what do you see for the future of charter schools in Florida?
Williams: I see tremendous opportunity in terms of its growth, personally. The folks that I work with on a regular basis, the members of the legislature, and the Florida Department of Education …
We have a unique situation in Florida, where our former Speaker of the House, Richard Corcoran, who was a very, very, very big proponent of charter schools and, under his watch, passed some very significant legislation in regard to Schools of Hope, Hope Scholarships.
Gardner: Right.
Williams: Very, very, very pro-choice. After his Speaker term ended along with his legislative term, we got a new governor, Ron DeSantis, who then appointed him, essentially, as our new education commissioner.
So now we have, within the Department of Education, a very strong choice department, particularly for charter schools, and we’ve seen a lot go on recently that has certainly indicated that that’s the direction that the Department of Education’s going to go in.
The legislature continues to be very strong on choice and very strong on charter schools. We’ve strengthened the Schools of Hope legislation we passed two years ago. We’ve done some other changes to the statute that make it even more enhanced, better incentives for Schools of Hope.
We’re seeing the results of that right now. KIPP Schools is coming into Hillsborough County. They’re starting this year. IDEA schools are starting in Miami Bay. Those are already on the books. Now just had announced about in the last week or so that KIPP’s now going to open several in Duval County.
Gardner: Oh, wow.
Williams: I mean, so they’re seeing that opportunity there. So this is going to be a major influx of schools, from a world-renowned group like IDEA Schools.
Gardner: That’s good.
Williams: So I think you’re going to continue to see the legislature work both on fine-tuning the accountability measures – certainly holding those schools that are not doing as well as they should accountable, but recognizing those schools that are outperforming their traditional partners and recognizing them.
So I think the attitude and the environment is very strongly for charter schools.
Gardner: Excellent. All right. Thank you for your time.
Williams: You’re welcome.
End of Session Florida Legislative Update: Some Good News for Charter Schools
Here’s your Florida legislative update:
The 2019 Regular Legislative Session in Florida ended in overtime as budget negotiations went several hours longer than anticipated in the last week forcing lawmakers to extend the session by one day. But in typical “last minute” fashion they finalized what would end up being some of the most significant education policy in recent years.
In the final weeks of the session, policy and budget negotiations between the House and Senate began to merge, with the final days leading to a tennis-match-like back and forth between the two chambers. Lawmakers would take up bills, add amendments and send them over to the other chamber to be passed. Many times, the members in the other chamber wanted different language, so they would add amendments of their own and send it back to be considered. This “bouncing” of bills back and forth in the waning hours of session can be quite unnerving. It is possible for the session clock to run out before compromises are agreed upon and an identical bill passed by both chambers, which can lead to the bill dying in the process before it can be passed by both chambers.
This happened with one bill in particular that included some significant language pertaining to funding Florida charter schools.
Over the last several years, voter-approved special referendums have become very popular with Florida school districts as a means to collect additional tax revenue to benefit public schools. Most of the districts going this route have in one manner or another excluded public charter schools from benefitting from these tax-payer approved referendums.
Seeing this pattern of exclusion, the House proposed language in its annual tax package (HB 7123) that would compel school districts to share with charter schools tax revenues from special tax referendums approved by voters. This requirement would not only apply to future referendums but those that had already been approved by voters. The House voted this bill out and sent it over to the Senate on April 26.
The Senate took up the bill on the last scheduled day of session (May 3), but some Senate members were not in favor of the House referendum language, particularly applying to levies already in effect. They amended the bill that essentially said nothing prevents districts from sharing revenues but did not compel them to do so and “bounced” the bill back to the House to accept and approve.
The House didn’t approve and was adamant that school districts be mandated to share this revenue with charter schools. However, in the spirit of compromise, they did agree to throw the Senate a bone and make the provision prospective and not retroaction, which meant the mandate would apply only to future referendums and not those that had already been approved by voters.
The House then “bounced” the bill back to the Senate with this compromise language to accept and approve. This time the Senate relented, accepted the new language and approved the bill, just as time was running out.
The Florida Legislature passed a number of major education policy initiatives that expanded Schools of Hope, increased access to school choice scholarships, enhanced career, and workforce education and provided bonus’ for the best and brightest teachers.
But the most significant single policy change for charter schools is the special referendum language passed in HB 7123. This alone could provide significant financial stability to many Florida public charter schools so they can continue to offer quality choice in K-12 education.
Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We help schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources charter schools need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most – educating students. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.8 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!
Florida Legislative Update: Mid-Session Hope for Schools of Hope
In the past two years, the Florida Legislature passed some of the most sweeping charter school policy since the original charter school legislation was signed in 1996. As Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Richard Corcoran orchestrated the revamping of the formula for calculating and appropriating capital funds to charter schools, expanded timelines for planning and opening new charter schools, created a state-sponsored scholarship for struggling readers in grades 3-5. But the most sweeping change that will play for years to come is Schools of Hope.
Schools of Hope
Schools of Hope were established as a means of closing the opportunity gap and improving student performance. The Schools of Hope legislation provided an expedited approval path to entice national high performing charter schools to become Hope Operators and open charter schools within the attendance zones of Florida’s persistently low-performing traditional public schools.
Since then, two nationally known charter school operators (KIPP and IDEA Public Schools) have received the Hope Operator designation from Florida Department of Education and have announced plans for new schools in Miami and Tampa.
A Plan to Expand
Fast forward to the present. Shortly after his inauguration in January Governor Ron DeSantis named former Speaker Richard Corcoran as Secretary of Florida Department of Education, and he is now on a mission with supporters in the Florida Legislature to expand the Schools of Hope program even further.
Legislative Negotiations
At the beginning of legislative session last month the Florida Senate offered a plan that cut funding for the existing Schools of Hope program ($140 million) as well as reclaiming money from the previous two years and increasing Hope awards available to school district’s efforts at improving those persistently low-performing schools on their own. This idea did not sit well with House members who felt the Schools of Hope was the best solution after years of failed attempts by school districts to improve performance at these low-performing schools.
The House plan cuts Hope awards available to public schools from $2,000 per student to $500 per student and shifts more money into the Schools of Hope program. Negotiations between the two chambers on policy soon began and now the policy is beginning to come together.
Senate Bills
This past week, the Senate amended its school choice bill to more closely resemble the House version and its provisions for Schools of Hope expansion.
Both bills (HB 7095 in the House and SB 7070 in the Senate) would revise the school grade requirements in the definition of “persistently low-performing” that could potentially expand the areas available for Hope Operators to open new schools. It would also provide state funds for lease payments and other costs until the school is fully enrolled.
The House version further amends the definition of “persistently low-performing” to include Florida Opportunity Zones created by the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, signed into law last December. This could add an additional 200 communities available for potential Hope Operators to consider for new school sites.
What it All Means
Both versions of the bill will continue to move closer to one another as the last two weeks of the legislative session come to a close. Regardless of what the specific language that is finally approved, this expansion of the Schools of Hope program will continue to solidify school choice and will only mean more options for closing the opportunity gap in Florida’s K-12 education system. See our previous Florida Legislative Update here.
Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We provide growth capital and facilities financing to charter schools nationwide. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.8 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!
Editor’s Note: Here’s your Florida legislative update!
We try to do our best to make sure you have the most up-to-date information on what’s happening in the Florida Legislature and what pieces of legislation may affect education and, even more specifically, charter schools across the state.
Meetings, Meetings, and More Meetings
Every state legislature has its own unique ways when it comes to conducting its business. And Florida is no different. Meetings, meetings, and more meetings.
Interim Committee Weeks
One of the constants for the Florida Legislature is what is referred to as interim committee weeks. Prior to the official start of the 60-day Regular Legislative Session, House and Senate leadership schedule five to six weeks – over a three-month period – to have legislators and staff travel to Tallahassee and hold committee and subcommittee meetings.
While some bills are actually brought up and debated in the later weeks, the majority of the meetings are centered around who does what, how they do it, and how much it costs each year to do whatever it is they do. These meetings are where lawmakers get a better understanding of how the proverbial sausage gets made.
In education, this is the time for those of us in the process to find out who got promoted and what this year’s BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) will be. Having just completed the final interim committee week, we are now getting a sense of legislative BHAGs for K-12 education.
The Legislative BHAGs
Family Empowerment Scholarship:
Legislative education leaders rolled out the Family Empowerment Scholarship, a voucher-type scholarship funded with state dollars and designed for children in low-income families to attend an eligible school of choice.
Florida Tax Credit Scholarship
Legislators want to create this program to help reduce the number of children on the waiting list for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, a program that pays for scholarships using corporate tax credits for contributions to non-profit organizations.
Addressing Statewide Teacher Shortage
Legislators also want to take steps to address Florida’s teacher shortage by making it easier for school districts to retain their most effective teachers. This policy would allow teachers more time to demonstrate their mastery of general knowledge, allowing for three years instead of the current one year. They also want to direct the State Board of Education to restructure examination fees for certification exams as well as fees for exam retakes to assist in removing financial barriers for teachers wishing to remain in the field.
School Facilities Regulations
Another major legislative initiative will be a change to regulations regarding school construction and facility improvements when school districts use only local funds, including ad valorem revenue, for facility construction. The legislation would no longer require school districts to file an educational plant survey recommendation before beginning facility construction as well as eliminate cost per student station restrictions for construction.
Investing in School Safety
Lastly, legislators are looking to improve on efforts regarding school safety and mental illness that were taken last year in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL. Legislation has already been filed that will implement recommendations made by Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission that created last year to review deficiencies in school and student safety statewide. Funding will also be included to give schools greater flexibility to transfer funds for school safety expenditures and to sustain investments made in school security enhancements.
These broad education initiatives will benefit both traditional public schools and public charter schools in Florida who face similar problems in recruiting and retaining quality teachers and dealing with facility costs, particularly those aimed at school safety and school hardening.
No one – not even the Florida Legislature – takes great pleasure in meetings, meetings, and more meetings. But sometimes the results are worth the effort.
Florida Elections: State of the State
Elections Matter.
For the last several years a common phrase has been used by winning candidates everywhere. Elections matter. And that could not have been any more significant for school choice advocates in Florida than the most recent statewide elections.
In 1996, Jeb Bush partnered with community leaders and opened Florida’s first charter school in Liberty City in Miami-Dade County under legislation signed by then Democrat Governor, Lawton Chiles. Bush, a Republican, would go on to become Florida’s Governor in 1999 and together – with the Republican-controlled state Legislature – would control two of three branches of Florida’s state government for the next nineteen years. This Republican control resulted in legislation advancing school choice, particularly charter schools and charter school expansion.
During this time of Republican control, school choice opponents sought relief in the state’s court system to attack and beat back legislative policies favorable to school choice and charter schools. Over the past several years, the liberal-leaning Florida Supreme Court has been a major stumbling block to expanding school choice and charter schools in Florida. That all changed this past November.
Former Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis was elected Governor in November, and with it came the opportunity to appoint three new members of Florida’s Supreme Court. These appointments resulted from the vacancies created by three justices reaching the mandatory retirement age just as DeSantis was inaugurated as Florida’s newest Governor. These retiring justices were first appointed by previous Democrat Governors and helped keep the Court a more liberal body that routinely sided with school choice opponents in a number of high-profile cases it heard.
Most recently, the Court struck down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have set term limits on elected school board members. The amendment would also maintain the school board’s duties to public schools it establishes but would permit the state to operate, supervise, and control public schools not established by school board (charter schools or other schools of choice).
Shortly after his inauguration, Governor DeSantis appointed three very qualified, conservative justices to the Court, and as some observers have said, created one of the most conservative state Supreme Courts in the country.
When speaking about these appointments, newly elected Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez said, “(these appointments) will single-handedly be the most important thing for the future of this state that we have ever seen.”
Shortly after naming the three new justices, Governor DeSantis also selected former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Richard Corcoran, a staunch charter school proponent, as the new Commissioner of the Florida Department of Education.
These executive appointments signal a sea change in the state’s political landscape and send a clear message that Florida’s new Governor is serious about K-12 education, and even more serious about advancing school choice options in the state. His rhetoric on the campaign trail has translated into action, and charter school proponents in Florida should be very pleased with what they see over the next several years.
The recent Florida elections – and subsequent changes in leadership – are a great example of how much elections indeed matter. About the Author: Larry Williams is the owner/principal at Larry Williams Consulting LLC. They offer comprehensive consulting and lobbying services in the legislative and executive branches of state government as well as state agencies. Larry Williams Consulting LLC has established a network of relationships within the legislative, executive, cabinet and government agency arena as well as extensive knowledge of the issues.
Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We provide growth capital and facilities financing to charter schools nationwide. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.8 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!
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