Charter Schools

Charter schools are innovative, public schools of choice designed by educators, parents or civic leaders, accountable for results, and free from most rules and regulations governing conventional public schools. Today, more than 4,000 charter schools serve more than a million children in forty states plus the District of Columbia - over 370 of them are in Florida. See graphs here.

Underwritten with public funds but run independently, charter schools are free from a range of state laws and district policies stipulating what and how they teach, where they can spend their money, and who they can hire and fire. In return, they are held strictly accountable for their academic and financial performance.

The term "school choice" means giving parents the power and opportunity to choose the school their child will attend. Parents know what is best for their children and should be able to put that knowledge to work to find the best fit.

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Read: Charter vs. District schools

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Municipally Operated Charter Schools: A New Trend in Community Services.

Dissatisfied with the level of service provided by their school districts, and with an increased demand for higher quality public services delivered in their own safer and livable neighborhoods, many cities throughout the United States are embracing the charter school movement as a means to create locally controlled schools. See report.

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Are there other municipal charter schools in South Florida?

Several municipalities are already enjoying the benefits of operating their own municipal charter schools. Among them are: Pembroke Pines, Aventura, Oakland , Cape Coral, Miami Shores, Coral Springs and, most recently, the City of Hialeah became a charter school authorizer.

While our school will not be the first, we can certainly be the best.

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Can a city run a charter school?

Charter school advocates across the nation are watching the Pembroke Pines Charter School System in Pembroke Pines, Florida. They’re watching because this growing city is the first municipality to operate its own kindergarten-to-12th grade charter school system.
To learn more, click here or in the picture.

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Charter Schools vs. District Schools

Caroline Hoxby, Allie S. Freed Professor of Economics at Harvard University and the director of the Economics of Education Program for the National Bureau of Economic Research, discusses several differences between charter and public schools.

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Charter Schools

 

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Additional references

Facilities requirements for Charter Schools in the State of Florida: http://www.fldoe.org/edfacil/charters.asp

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The Florida Schools of Excellence Commission

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Map of charter schools in the US.

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Florida Department of Education. Charter Schools:  

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Miami-Dade Charter Schools Operations

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Florida Statutes 1002.33: STUDENT AND PARENTAL RIGHTS AND EDUCATIONAL CHOICES

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Florida’s Charter Schools. A decade of progress:  Since 1996 in Florida, charter schools have played a vital role in increasing parental options in public education by providing innovative learning opportunities for students. This report traces the history of charter schools and provides an overview of the important contributions charter schools have made to Florida’s educational system.

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Charter Schools Make Strong Showing on America's Best High Schools List:  Despite making up only two percent of the nation's public schools, charter schools made a statistically impressive showing on U.S. News & World Report's list of America's Best High Schools.