Florida charter schools, management companies and leaders are represented by at least two statewide organizations. But for years, charter school parents “were the lost group,’’ said Henry A. Rose, a longtime charter school advocate.

Rose decided to do something about it.

With help from the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, the Fort Lauderdale-based nonprofit that counts about 400 charters as members, he and other parents formed Parents For Charter Schools in 2009.

Many charter school parents were involved with their local schools, but few knew the impact they could have in Tallahassee. The group, an arm of the consortium, now represents 4,000 to 5,000 members.

“I think a lot of them were surprised to learn, ‘Wow! We can make a difference,’ ’’ said Lynn Norman-Teck, the consortium’s spokeswoman.

Parents For Charters serves as a resource on schools, rules and legislation, and school choice issues. Kind of like a PTA, said Rose, a marketing and media consultant in Pembroke Pines.

Rose serves as co-chairman of Parents For Charter Schools and once led the Broward County public school district’s 250-school Parent Advisory Council. Though his children are grown now, his daughter taught in a Washington, D.C. charter school and his wife teaches at Franklin Academy Charter School in Pembroke Pines.

Like his family, Parents For Charter Schools members tend to be independent thinkers, Rose said. His job is to unite them for causes, such as proposed legislation, polls and conferences.

The latest example: Costco, the national grocery warehouse, sent a mass survey in its August magazine asking readers if charter schools were a good idea or a bad one. (more…)