Charter Schools

The same Suncoast lawmakers who voted earlier this year to let charter schools move into underused public campuses have stayed quiet as a Miami-based charter operator’s early push to occupy local schools set off confusion and concern among parents and educators.Mater Academy, one of Florida’s largest charter school networks, filed notices last week to co-locate inside five Sarasota and Manatee county schools — part of a broader wave of early filings across the state that districts say were submitted prematurely. According to officials, charter operators must wait until Nov. 11 to submit a notice.

Mater Academy Inc., a Miami-based charter school operator, has submitted notices to occupy three Sarasota County public school campuses, marking a sharp local escalation of the state’s newly expanded “Schools of Hope” law, which allows charters to take over public school facilities.The notices, submitted early Wednesday, target Brookside Middle, Emma E. Booker Elementary and Oak Park School, a K-12 campus that serves students with disabilities. They are among similar notices sent to school districts statewide this week, according to Sarasota County Schools officials.

Oasis Charter High School Theatre Director Carrie Guffy presented Ashlynn Richardson with a unique challenge. She had her conceive and install the choreography for Oasis’ spring musical, “Addams Family.” To complicate matters, Guffy cast 17 students in the roles of Addams Family Ancestors – more than double the usual number seen at equity and community theaters.

he Republican-controlled House voted 86-25 along almost straight party lines to pass the bill (HB 443), after it was approved 30-7 on Wednesday by the Senate. It is ready to go to Gov. Ron DeSantis.The bill is one of a series of measures that lawmakers have considered this year that could help charter schools, which are public schools typically run by private operators and generally not bound by the same regulations as traditional schools. The number of students enrolled in charter schools has increased dramatically over the years as the Legislature has expanded school choice.

After more than 1,200 objections were filed to school-library books and other materials last school year, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a bill that will limit challenges by some people.The wide-ranging bill (HB 1285) also includes making changes designed to ease the process of charter schools taking over operations at traditional public schools that lag in performance.

Florida Republican lawmakers voiced confidence in their estimated costs for the state’s newest expansion of school vouchers, but they’re setting aside money just in case those estimates are off.

A proposal that would allow state colleges and universities to authorize the creation of charter schools and sponsor the schools is advancing in the Florida Senate. The proposal would allow higher education institutions, upon approval by the state Department of Education, to solicit applications from charter schools.

Nearly three years after lawmakers passed a controversial measure that sought to bolster charter schools, the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday turned...

A new charter school surrounded by an eight-foot non-scalable fence and equipped with bullet-resistant glass is slated to open just a few miles from the...

Nine county school boards are going to the Florida Supreme Court in a battle about the constitutionality of a controversial 2017 law that sought to...