The outcry over a half-million-dollar payout to the principal of a failing Florida charter school has spawned a proposed legislative remedy.

Saunders

Florida Rep. Joe Saunders, D-Orlando, filed a bill this week that prevents compensation to charter school employees after the school shuts down. House Bill 373 is in direct response to the $519,000 payout an Orlando charter school principal received after her failing school closed in June.

NorthStar High School Principal Kelly Young’s final contract also entitled her to about $304,000 in salary and bonuses, netting her $824,000 in her last year, reported the Orlando Sentinel. In addition, an audit found the school paid Young’s husband $460,000 over five years for management services. The payouts shocked district and charter school officials, and prompted lawmakers, including Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, to call for more oversight of charter school spending.

Charter schools are public schools that receive state money, but operate independently of school districts. Charters have their own school boards to help manage finances and develop curriculum.

Saunders’ bill specifically states that charter school employees, service providers or vendors are not entitled to compensation after the school closes. It also calls for limiting an employee contract to the terms of the charter school contract, voiding the remainder of a contract after the school closes.

Simmons said late Tuesday he supports the bill's intent, but hopes to file a similar one this session that includes broader language. "I want to make sure that there is the assurance that this doesn't happen again,'' he said. "But at the same time, I don't want a knee-jerk reaction that hurts the choice and charter school movement.'' (more…)

Shannon

School district officials and state lawmakers aren’t the only ones outraged by a failing Orlando charter school that cut its principal a check, as it was closing its doors, for half a million dollars.

“This is totally unacceptable,’’ Cheri Shannon, president and chief executive officer of the Florida Charter School Alliance, told redefinED Friday.

Added Lynn Norman-Teck of the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, in a prepared release: “The alleged behavior of NorthStar is the exception, not the rule. There are many examples of public charter schools, their governing boards, and administrators, with exemplary records.’’

The Orlando Sentinel reported Thursday that NorthStar High School’s board of directors paid Principal Kelly Young $519,453.36 in taxpayer dollars. The lump-sum payment occurred two days after the Orange County School Board accepted the school’s plan to close instead of being shut down by the district for poor performance.

The principal’s payout was based on a contract that paid her $305,000 a year through 2014, even though the school’s contract with the district was up for renewal in 2012, the Sentinel reported. In addition, the charter school is still paying Young $8,700 bi-monthly to oversee the school’s shutdown, the newspaper wrote.

The story has stoked criticism of charter schools, which receive public money but are run by private boards. And it comes at a sensitive time. Charter schools in Florida served 180,000 students last year and are expected to enroll twice that many by fall 2017. Proponents, including Gov. Rick Scott, are pushing for even greater expansion. (more…)