Remember charter school exclusivity?

Way back in October and November, several school districts were making noise about suing the State Board of Education over the right to control which charter schools open within their counties. They contended that local school districts - and not a state agency (the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission) - have the constitutional authority to "operate, control and supervise all free public schools within the school district."

Well, they've gone off and actually done it. After joining forces under one lawyer, and consolidating several complaints into one within the First District Court of Appeal, 14 districts including Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando have filed their initial brief in the case of Duval County School Board et al v. State Board of Education.

The argument is a simple one: "Charter schools are public schools and as such, they are subject to the authority of the local school boards under the Constitution. Allowing the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission to sponsor and operate charter schools within a school district violates article IX, section 4(b)."

The lawyers filed the brief on April 18. The state has 30 days to respond. To read the full brief, click here.

Comments

Dear Florida DOE and State Board of Education,

Please hire a competent reading coach (there should be a bunch unemployed after the budget cuts) and a competent general counsel and then actually read the Constitution as it relates to this issue. At that point, you should side with the districts against the Unconstitutional Law that created the FSE in the first place. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

4:41, you are pretty funny (and obviously clueless). I bet you can't even name the GC without looking the information up. You really shouldn't embarass yourself (and the district you work for) like this....

Dear 7:01 p.m.,

Please read the Constituion. If you do this, you won't need an attorney to know what it says about locally elected school boards must operate, supervise, and control all of the public schools within its geographic boundaries. Charter schools are public school by law. The FSE is not a locally elected school board. It cannot legally approve any charters in Florida.

I don't know who the current GC is at the DOE. But, I know that whomever it is has been soiling his/her pants thinking about taking on Ron Meyer on this case.

10:45 PM,

Ron Meyer? Give me a break, you're acting like he's Barry Richards or something. Plus, did you happen to see what happend in the Hershey lawsuit -- the districts lost!