Two proposed charter schools that were rejected by their local school boards will get to make their cases to the Florida Board of Education.
A panel that vets charter school appeals has sided with one of the prospective charters, but not the other. The state board is set to have its say at its meeting next week in Tallahassee.
The Florida Charter School Appeal Commission voted unanimously to support Discovery High School in Polk County after finding the school board did not show the alleged flaws in the school’s plans justified the rejection of its charter application.
The proposed charter school would grow out of the existing Discovery Academy of Lake Alfred, a Title I charter in Polk County. The middle school received a C rating from the state in 2013-14, while serving one of the highest proportions of low-income students of all the charters in the district.
The Winter Haven News Chief reported this summer that the new charter school proposal has the backing of Lake Alfred’s mayor, who said the town has long yearned for its own high school.
The appeals commission looked less favorably on SVG Leadership Academy, which had its charter application denied last fall by the Broward County School Board. The school board found fault with the proposed school’s educational plan, and the appeals panel agreed.
Meanwhile, an existing charter school will plead its case to stay open. Osceola County’s Acclaim Academy was the only school facing closure after high school grades were released in December, when it received its second-straight F.
To get a one-year reprieve from automatic termination under the state’s “double-F” rule, charter schools need to show their students are making more progress than those at comparable schools nearby.
Board documents show the Acclaim’s record on that count is somewhat mixed, with its lowest-performing students making greater learning gains than those at surrounding schools in math but not in reading.
