Steve Wise wants to end local control of schools

From Scathing Purple Musings

by Bob Sykes

In 1996, Florida began a grand experiment in education reform. Charter schools were placed in a statewide Petri dish.

Critics warned that the public/private hybrids would siphon off funding and spell the end of traditional public schools.

And now, some state lawmakers foolishly plan to hand charter schools the hose. The Senate Education Committee has endorsed a bill requiring local school districts to share with charter schools a portion of the $1.9 billion in construction and maintenance money collected through local taxes. Money that charter schools could use to defray leases or to buy buildings that — rather than reverting to the public — private operators get to keep if the school is not renewed or goes belly up.

Charter schools currently get tax money based on each student they have, but when it comes to the separate pot of construction and maintenance money, school districts get to decide whether and how much to give charter schools.

A bill introduced by Sen. Stephen Wise, a Jacksonville Republican, would do away with that local discretion. District school boards would be forced to proportionately share property tax revenue for construction and maintenance on a per-student basis with charter schools. About a $140 million windfall for charter schools.

Local discretion….hmmm.

Wise understands he’s tying the hands of local school boards. He showed even more contempt for them last year when he sponsored a bill to eliminate their salaries. Wise also knows that charter schools do not provide the same services that public schools do, yet he wants to force Florida’s local school boards to give more from the taxpayers who elected them to the charter schools operators who donate campaign cash to him.

http://bobsidlethoughtsandmusings.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/orlando-sentinel-slams-steve-wises-charter-school-bill/