Detente Closer in Charter Schools Dispute: The Long-Running Conflict Over Money for Charter Schools Between Pembroke Pines and Broward School Board May Be Creeping Toward Compromise

By Nirvi Shah, The Miami Herald

Mar. 16–After years of name-calling and nastiness, Pembroke Pines and Broward school officials edged toward a possible compromise Thursday in their simmering feud over money for the city’s charter schools. The city and school district have been at odds over whether Pembroke Pines should get a share of district construction money for its 5,300-student municipal school system.

After talking for about two hours, the two groups seemed to agree on a plan forwarded by School Board Chairwoman Beverly Gallagher, which would allow Pines to participate alongside the district’s own schools in an annual competition for construction money.

The competition is how the district sets priorities for its limited construction money.

“Exactly what I wanted to happen happened,” Gallagher said. “It’s the first idea that has come out that both of us have embraced.”

Pines Commissioner Iris Siple agreed.

“What we have on the floor is at least something that seems worthy of further discussion,” she said.

But the proposed solution is just that: a proposal. School Board members said they must come up with rules that would allow Pembroke Pines to participate but not necessarily all charter schools.

OTHERS WATCHING

The outcome of the dispute goes well beyond the borders of Pembroke Pines and even Broward County. Pembroke Pines runs one of the largest city-run charter school systems in the state, and the outcome of the disagreement is being watched by districts and cities statewide.

The city wants $2.5 million per year in district property tax money for the seven city-run charter schools. Until now, Broward School Board members have said they don’t have enough money to fund their own projects, much less to help Pembroke Pines. Even if Pines is allowed to participate in the district’s internal competition, there’s no guarantee the city would get what it asks for every year.

That could be a problem for the city, which wants the money to make mortgage payments on schools it already has built and borrowed for.

PARENTS TURN OUT

More than 300 Pines charter school parents and kids, wearing stickers saying “equal funding for charter schools,” attended Thursday night’s meeting, at the charter high school on Sheridan Street.

Jackie Douglas, whose daughter Michelle is a charter high school junior, said she was there to support the school and its faculty.

“All I know is that they need the money,” Douglas said. “Let me tell you, these people are incredible.”

Charter schools are public schools with their own governing boards. In Pines, the board is the City Commission.

Charter and noncharter schools get about the same amount of money from the state to cover teacher salaries and supplies. But while noncharter schools collect tax money for construction, charter schools rely on a state account shared among hundreds of other charters. The account hasn’t kept up with a growing number of charters, about 50 in Broward alone.

As a result, Pines has had to dip into its savings to cover ongoing expenses for some of its schools. A new state law allows school districts to share the tax money collected for school construction, but so far, no district has offered to share its tax money.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Miami Herald

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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