Details about this story

• Source: Orlando Sentinel
• Date: March 25, 2007
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Vicki McClure , Katy Moore , Mary Shanklin
• Topics: Education
• Data Types: State Data , Federal Data
• Description/Excerpt: More than 300 charters teaching about 92,000 students have sprung up, funded by $1.5 billion in local, state and federal taxes in the past three years alone. Eighty schools are operating in Central Florida. But a statewide investigation by the Orlando Sentinel found that while many charters serve children well, scores of others offer a poor choice. Key findings, which the Sentinel will detail during four days, include: Low-performing schools. A disproportionate number of charters are among the worst campuses in Florida. They received about a quarter of the failing grades last year, even though they taught 3 percent of the state's students. Financial problems. More than half of charters report they are running at a loss, and nearly half had financial arrangements with insiders that would not be allowed in regular schools, such as board members renting a facility to the charter or doing business with the school. Lack of accountability. Forty-three percent of charters did not receive a letter grade from the state in 2006, which means they avoided the primary corrective steps imposed on public schools that do poorly. Some perform dismally year after year without raising any alarm or any push to change. Little oversight. The state has so few controls on charters that a Pensacola-area school was able to rent out teens for road work for five years. Now lawmakers are making it easier to open more and more charters
• Methodology: See explainer
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