Ownership of schools questioned

Florida began allowing the creation of charter schools more than a decade ago as a way to give parents one more educational option beyond traditional public schools, private schools and home schooling.

The idea was that people in the community willing to try innovative approaches to education could start their own schools, funded through tax dollars.

Often, that's just how it worked. In some cases, though, it's not clear just how community-driven the schools are because many are either formed by or operated by companies that run multiple charter schools throughout Florida or nationwide.

A panel at last week's Pasco Education Summit at Sunlake High School tackled the question of whether those management companies have somehow skewed the true purpose of charter schools.

"Management companies have been ruling charter schools for quite a few years now," said Nancy Scowcroft, Pasco's charter school supervisor.

Scowcroft said the intent of Florida's charter school legislation was to put schools back in the hands of the community, and the assumption was the schools would be founded by people who best knew the students' needs.

Charter schools, though, provided an opportunity to make money, Scowcroft said, so charter school management companies popped up, opening schools in multiple states.

Pasco County has had experience with charter schools that were community-based, such as Dayspring Academy and Academy at the Farm, and those run by multistate companies, such as Imagine School at Land O' Lakes. Imagine Schools is a nonprofit company that operates 74 schools in 12 states and the District of Columbia.

An important function

State Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, who helped found Dayspring Academy, which was Pasco's first charter school, said charter school management companies can serve an important function.

Often, the people who start charter schools are educators, but running a school also requires business expertise that management companies can provide, he said.

Still, Legg acknowledged there are concerns because the legislative intent was for community-driven charter schools overseen by boards drawn from the community.

"It can't be a shell game where they pick the (local) board members and the board rubber-stamps whatever the management company wants," Legg said.

State Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith said the state has many excellent locally driven charter schools and called the choices available to parents "absolutely stunning."

He acknowledged, though, that there are risks as multistate charter school organizations try to get a foothold in Florida, and the state needs "to be careful as we monitor this."

Ultimately, Smith said, results are what matter most and "one of the critical things for us to measure is what happens to the children at the end of the day."

Karl Huber, development director of Imagine Schools, said in an interview this week that Imagine agrees charter schools should be community-based and community-driven. Among the ways Imagine accomplishes that, he said, is through the local representation on its boards and input from parents.

Setting up for failure

To say charter schools should be started only by local groups, though, may be setting many of them up for failure because launching a school is expensive, Huber said. Regional charter school companies can provide the financial backing that helps fledgling schools survive money problems, especially in their start-up years, he said.

"It's a fallacy to assume that just because your organization is regional or national, you're not able to be community-based," Huber said. "One of our big focuses at Imagine is this is about parents. If our parents aren't really happy, our schools won't do well."

State funding in Florida is set up so charter schools don't get money for facilities until the fourth year, Huber said. Also, funding for charter schools is about 75 percent of that for traditional public schools, he said, making the finances even more difficult.

"We have to do more with less money to begin with," Huber said.