{"id":4310,"date":"2012-01-17T14:51:41","date_gmt":"2012-01-17T19:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=4310"},"modified":"2012-01-18T12:51:07","modified_gmt":"2012-01-18T17:51:07","slug":"florida-tops-nation-in-charter-school-laws-study-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/01\/17\/florida-tops-nation-in-charter-school-laws-study-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Tops Nation In Charter School Laws, Study Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joe Raedle \/ Getty News Images<\/p>

Florida International Academy charter school students in Opa Locka, Florida.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Sunshine State ranks 3rd in\u00a0the country for having some of the best charter school laws, according to a study\u00a0by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS).<\/p>\n

Each of the 42\u00a0states with charter school laws are scored on how well\u00a0their\u00a0laws support charter school growth, accountability and quality.<\/p>\n

Actual school\u00a0performance\u00a0isn’t a factor in the NAPCS study. The study only looks at the charter school laws on the books. And they compare Florida laws to a model charter school application and contract that NAPCS created in 2009.<\/p>\n

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“It\u2019s challenging for school boards to do a great job of authorizing essentially what some view as their competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Todd Ziebarth, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n

Florida came in 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0place last year, even though the state’s charter schools were disproportionately more likely to be graded an “F” school <\/a>than traditional public schools.<\/p>\n

Of the 31 “F” grades handed out by the state, 15 were handed to charter schools.<\/p>\n

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Todd Ziebarth is the author of the study. He said Florida can do \u201ca better job in holding authorizers accountable for their work and the quality of the charter schools that they approve.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Florida, only the school board in each school district can authorize opening a new charter school and renewing an existing one – a model Ziebarth says can get tricky.<\/p>\n

“What we find in Florida and other states is that it\u2019s challenging for school boards to do a great job of authorizing essentially what some view as their competition.”<\/p>\n

Another issue is autonomy.<\/p>\n

Ziebarth said other states are starting to look at how well the\u00a0authorizers\u00a0oversee schools “in a way that does not constrain the charter school’s autonomy.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some school board members have argued that charter schools have too much autonomy, and that when it comes to holding charter schools accountable,\u00a0their hands are tied in many cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Equal Funding<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charter school funding is another area for improvement, according to the study.<\/p>\n

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