Raise the bar for charter schools that want to open in Florida, and give them access to predictable funding for facilities.
That was the bargain school district and charter school leaders suggested to the state Senate’s main budget panel on Thursday, but questions remain about the best ways to achieve both of those things.
The Legislature is working on bills that, among other things, would give districts clearer authority to screen prospective charter school operations based on their academic and financial history.
District superintendents, including Kurt Browning of Pasco County, suggested further measures to the Senate Appropriations Committee, like having the state keep a database tracking how various charter operators perform, which of their schools shut down, and why.
Robert Runcie, Broward County’s superintendent, told the panel that new charter schools should also be required to show proof that they have found a suitable building well before classes begin.
That would be easier to manage if they also had dedicated funding for buildings, which Runcie said should be structured in a way that avoids pitting charters and districts against each other. Right now, a shortage of facilities funding is a major cause of the revenue gap between charters and other public schools.
“Charters probably do need some source of capital funding,” Runcie said. “It needs to be a dedicated source that does not impact traditional schools.”
When charter schools don’t have access to dedicated funding for buildings, they might have to raid operational funds that could otherwise pay for things like teacher salaries.
Tom Majdanics, KIPP Jacksonville’s executive director, told the panel his organization overcame that problem by moving into a donated building that previously housed a greyhound track, and by relying on fundraising by its heavy-hitting board members to pay for renovations.
To date, its two schools (and counting) are by far Florida’s largest successful effort to recruit a high-impact, out-of-state charter school network to an undeserved urban area.
“Our state policy on charter facilities is a major constraint to attract and grow, in particular, high-performing charter operators that intend to serve our highest-need communities,” he said.
Sen. Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican who oversees the education budget, raised the idea of creating a “matrix” that would allow districts and charters to divide property tax revenue that is already set aside for building construction, based on their building needs. Why not allow that construction funding to “proportionally follow the student?” he asked.
That concept raised concerns among the superintendents appearing before the panel, who noted much of their local capital revenue is used to pay off construction bonds.
Gaetz noted there’s a conundrum that might be unavoidable. Facilities funding must come from somewhere, and districts could always lay a potential claim to it.
“If you set up a funding source, that funding source does not come from Confederate gold found in the basement of the Old Capitol,” he said. “It comes from the same money that you would otherwise get.”
There might still be a way to make charter school capital funding more consistent — thereby making it easier for charters to secure financing based on predictable revenue — while also relieving some of the pressure of year-to-year lobbying struggles over facilities funding.
Right now, though, there’s another complication. Uncertainty over a $2 billion chunk of Medicaid funding has cast a pall over the entire state budget.
