Charters schools sometimes require essays, admissions tests or require documentation of disabilities — which critics say can be barriers for students seeking to enter the publicly-funded but privately-run schools. Florida is one of five states which prohibits charter schools from screening applicants by academic performance.
But as Reuters has found, it’s not that simple. Thousands of charter schools don’t provide subsidized lunches, putting them out of reach for families in poverty. Hundreds mandate that parents spend hours doing “volunteer” work for the school or risk losing their child’s seat. In one extreme example the Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove, Illinois, mandates that each student’s family invest in the company that built the school – a practice the state said it would investigate after inquiries from Reuters.
Read more at: www.reuters.com
