Build an F-Rated Charter School? WITHOUT Approval? Only in Florida. From Daily Kos today.

[madfloridian]

Interesting post up at Daily Kos by SemDem about the ease of building unregulated charter schools in Florida. With taxpayer money. Without approval.

Want to Build an F-Rated Charter School? WITHOUT Approval? Only in Florida

Orange County, Florida, home of Orlando, is the 12th largest school district in the US. It has over 115 elementary schools. Since 1999, we have been grading our schools. Last year, only three schools received an "F" rating.

One of them was Renaissance Charter School.

The County has made it very clear they DO NOT WANT Charter Schools USA building another failed Renaissance Charter School. They are suing to stop the decision from the Florida Dept. of Education, stacked with Scott cronies, that is trying to force them to build THREE campuses in Orange County. The owner of Charter Schools USA, John Hage, is just appalled that anyone would sue to stop him.

The County is opposed to these schools based on their past performance. They have a good case, and the judge is weighing his options. In the meantime, Hage said screw it.

Charter Schools USA has started construction, despite not having approval yet for the school.

Charter Schools USA isn't waiting for a judge to decide if it can open a disputed school in Orange County.

They are just building it anyway.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Florida was a disaster, and then the Repukes here elected Scott the criminal...

now it's worse than it was.

[madfloridian]

2. Only in the future will we know how much harm has been done to our state....

by Scott and his buddies.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. I know. I'm still in shock at the piece of trash Repukes elected. :( nt

[greatlaurel]

4. Florida has very stiff competition from Ohio in shockingly bad charter schools

Here are some links if you want to see what is going on in Ohio. The Ohio taxpayers are being ripped off massively and it is getting almost no publicity. That is what happens when the state's media has been bought up by ring wingers and our state government has been taken over by ALEC.
http://www.plunderbund.com/2013/09/07/charter-schools-propped-up-by-state-funding-how-much-is-your-school-district-losing/
"As we already reported, 99% of Ohio’s school districts lose students to charter schools and of those that do, 95% lose more money per pupil than they actually receive from the state."

http://www.plunderbund.com/2014/01/12/this-week-in-ohio-charter-school-horror-stories/
"Today the Columbus Dispatch reported that nearly 30% of Ohio’s charter schools have closed or been shut down since Ohio started its charter school experiment in 1997."

http://www.plunderbund.com/2013/09/08/case-study-the-direct-effect-of-charter-school-funding-on-a-high-performing-ohio-school-district/ "In FY13, Olentangy’s funding was based on a total resident student population of 17,572 for which Olentangy received $7,756,769.13 in state funding, or the aforementioned $441.43 per pupil. Also in FY13, Olentangy was forced by the state to transfer a total of $1,157,954.57 to 18 different charter schools to pay for the 114.38 students (decimal occurs due to when student transferred) who left the high-performing school district to enroll in these charter school options (an average of $10,123.75 per pupil). None of these charter schools are located within the boundaries of Olentangy, and none are even located in Delaware County."
This above link also has an outstanding chart on the grades of the charter schools kids from this district attend. It is sickening.

In Ohio the state funds follow the student to whatever charter will take them, then if the charter school charges more than the state funds, the local district has to make up the difference. Every public school district is being taken to the cleaners by schools that have absolutely no accountability. Our narcissist in chief governor John Kasich has now declared that schools must be completely deregulated. If he is reelected, Ohio will be turned into a third world hell hole in short order. We are on the brink now but King John is holding back, because he thinks he will be the next POTUS. The Wolf family (which owns the major Ohio newspaper, the Columbus Disgrace, I meant the Dispatch) has already promised him he will be president with their help, of course.

[madfloridian]

5. Oh Yeh, Ohio is right up there with Florida, no doubt.

These teabaggy Republican governors are wasting no time in their attacks on public schools.

Is Kasich deregulating public schools or just charter schools?

[greatlaurel]

6. All schools

Here is the link to the Dispatch article, pretty disturbing.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/02/06/kasich-sees-need-to-deregulate-schools.html

"According to education insiders, the governor could propose a host of ways to deregulate schools, such as removing state rules for class sizes and personnel and leaving those to the discretion of local boards. He could seek to ease licensing requirements for teachers to make it easier for business professionals to come into classrooms and teach, or establish some sort of formal tie between the state Board of Education and the business community so that business leaders could have a more-direct influence on curriculum."

The bold sections are for emphasis. Ohio is such a train wreck.