When I reminded someone on Twitter that most charter schools are managed by nonprofit organizations, she told me that they just take their extra money to “build their empire.”īut if charter schools are building an empire that gets amazing results for kids, then heck yeah, let’s help them build it bigger! And still, the well-organized, well-funded anti-charter voices complain that charter schools are bleeding them dry, being prioritized over traditional schools, and only out to get rich at the expense of the kids who go to their schools. That’s why sometimes you’ll see charter schools operating in unusual places, like an empty section of the largely abandoned Centre of Tallahassee mall where my son goes to school.Ī 2017 report by Florida Taxwatch found that charter schools get about $3,000 less per student. Like the allowance disparity in that fictional family, charter schools get less money to educate kids and are largely on their own to find a building for the school. In newspapers and blogs, political campaigns, and school board meetings, they paint charter schools across the state as a giant money-eating monster that’s staring down every child attending traditional schools. The hostile school board members and superintendents aligned with the Florida Education Association’s anti-charter campaign are the abusive parents. They’re the one adopted sibling in a public school family of 10. In the real world, only 10 percent of Florida students attend charter schools. “Why are mom and dad prioritizing him over the rest of us?” they demand. “He’s draining our allowance funds!” they cry. Of course, part of his motivation is the threat of being kicked out of the family if his grades slip or if he can’t sustain himself financially.ĭespite his success, the family starts complaining about his allowance, arguing that it could be divided up among the original nine. The boy accepts the requirements and continues to impress onlookers with his success in school and his frugality. After all, he’s got to work a night job to bring in some of his own money. As a trade-off, they allow him to stay out later. The parents decide to take a little cut from his allowance and require that he shop for his own clothes and pay for his own transportation. He works hard, gets good grades, but there’s a problem: He’s growing! Not like a kid who ate magic beans or anything, but he’s eating more of the family’s food, using up valuable space in the family van, and asking for access to the family computer (which they’ve denied). Imagine a family with 10 kids: nine biological and one adopted.Īfter a couple of years, the parents and siblings start to regret their choice to adopt him. This essay originally appeared in the Sunshine State News.
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