{"id":2042,"date":"2011-10-12T12:19:23","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T16:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=2042"},"modified":"2011-10-26T16:43:02","modified_gmt":"2011-10-26T20:43:02","slug":"loopholes-in-florida-law-leave-room-for-corruption-in-charter-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/10\/12\/loopholes-in-florida-law-leave-room-for-corruption-in-charter-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Loopholes In Florida Law Mean Little Oversight of Charter Business Deals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sarah Gonzalez \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

The Academy of Arts and Minds in Coconut Grove used to be a shopping mall. But no one was buying space. That's when the owner of the property started up a charter school and now rents the property to his school. The campus still looks like a shopping mall with wrap-around balconies. Classrooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, much like a store front.<\/p><\/div>\n

This story is a collaborative investigation between The Miami Herald and StateImpact Florida. Read the Herald’s story<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

People who want to start up\u00a0their\u00a0own charter school must go through a rigorous application process. But after that initial hurdle, the school founders get a lot of freedom over how to run their\u00a0publicly-funded schools and who to hire. And because\u00a0of loopholes in Florida statues, a lot of taxpayer dollars can end up in the hands of one person.<\/p>\n\n

Progress reports in Miami-Dade county schools have already been issued. But students at the Academy of Arts and Minds in Coconut Grove\u00a0didn’t get a grade in biology, because they haven’t had a biology teacher for the first six weeks of school.<\/p>\n

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Sarah Gonzalez \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

Academy of Arts & Minds students Darcy Morenza (10th), Toni Robotham (11th) with her little brother Brandon, and Darlene Valejjo (10th) on Open House night.<\/p><\/div>\n

And on Open\u00a0House night, parents want answers.<\/p>\n

Parents introduce themselves as Janeysi’s mom and Hannah’s mom.<\/p>\n

But Sharon Blate, the new biology teacher, doesn’t know who Janeysi\u00a0and Hannah are.<\/p>\n

“I have no idea who is in my class. I have not even seen the list yet. At a quarter to six was the first time I walked in here,” said Blate.<\/p>\n

The school district has been rewarding Arts & Minds for being a high performing school by allowing it to increase enrollment.<\/p>\n

Over the past eight years, Arts & Minds has grown to 450 students\u2014six times its original enrollment<\/p>\n

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