![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/12\/Academica2.jpg\" "\\"Academica\\"")
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Fernando Zulueta, president of Academica, gets a drink at the bar in Cain at The Cove, Friday, September 16, 2011, an exclusive beach club in the Bahamas' Atlantis resort. Academica held a leadership retreat for principals of several charter schools there. MIAMI HERALD PHOTO<\/p><\/div>\n
That\u2019s the topic of a one-hour radio special, \u201cCashing in on Kids,\u201d by WLRN\/Miami Herald News in conjunction with StateImpact Florida and WUSF Public Media.<\/p>\n
Both stations aired the program at 2 p.m. Thursday (a first time this has happened in recent memory) and there was a great response from callers and followers on Twitter.<\/p>\n
Two callers said they were parents of kids with disabilities who had seen charter schools rejecting students with special needs themselves.<\/p>\n
StateImpact Florida reporters Sarah Gonzalez and John O\u2019Connor talked about the main finding of their three-month investigation: that 86 percent of Florida\u2019s charter schools do not serve a single child with a severe disability.<\/p>\n
And Miami Herald reporters Kathleen McGrory and Scott Hiaasen recapped some of their major findings, including:<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 State lawmakers who profit from the charter school industry and then vote on these issues<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A former state lawmaker who was secretly paid $5,000 a month as he voted on charter schools<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Conflicts of interest where charter school management companies are profiting by leasing property and equipment back to themselves<\/p>\n
One caller questioned whether racism was at the heart of the growth in charter school enrollment.<\/p>\n
A Miami caller, \u201cAlexia,\u201d described her experiences as a mother of a child with autism and as an advocate for children with disabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents are constantly being pushed out from the charter schools,\u201d she said\u2026not just children with profound disabilities, but even children with high-functioning disabilities such as ADHD.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like for my child to have the same choices as any other child to access a charter school. But I wouldn\u2019t even attempt to put him in a charter school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRandy\u201d in Pasco County said she\u2019s an advocate for charter schools, however her daughter was forced out of a charter school because she was having learning problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey push these people out, because they don\u2019t want to look bad,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
An e-mail from \u201cJim\u201d in South Miami was skeptical.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour guests and their articles remind me of that commercial, \u2018Where\u2019s the Beef?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cConflicts of interest, potential problems\u2026sounds a lot like the Miami\/Dade county public school system. The only difference appears to be, some charter schools make a profit. Oh, the horror! Successful charter schools,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New investigations by the Miami Herald and StateImpact Florida raise serious concerns about Florida\u2019s charter schools \u2013 including who\u2019s profiting from them, and whether they are serving kids with severe disabilities. That\u2019s the topic of a one-hour radio special, \u201cCashing in on Kids,\u201d by WLRN\/Miami Herald News in conjunction with StateImpact Florida and WUSF Public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,15,17,16],"tags":[218,1009,210,219],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3654,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3649\/revisions\/3654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}