The Florida Board of Education is set to adopt a new standard charter school contract when it meets Sept. 29 in Tampa. The move comes despite lengthy debate by lawmakers that ended in the spiking of a bill that would have mandated a single uniform contract for all charters.
The state board’s notice of the proposed rule, published in July, indicates that it’s moving ahead based on a 2013 law that authorized the Department of Education to “implement a charter model application form, standard evaluation instrument, and standard charter and charter renewal contracts.”
The recommended new rule makes clear that the standard contract would serve as the basis for an initial draft contract. Both charter applicants and districts would be allowed to modify the document, but would have to indicate clearly how they changed it and why.
Senate Education Committee chairman John Legg, who operates a Pasco County charter school, said the pending proposal tracks with what the Senate was willing to accept over the more hard-line House stance.
