More Parent Choice BUT...Taxation Without Representation

Charter schools have certainly opened another avenue to the parents in Florida who would like to have their child experience an educational setting other than the "traditional" public school in their community. But with this new choice have parents overlooked who is making decisions regarding the spending of their tax dollars?

Charter schools operate under the direction of an independent board of directors. This board is not selected by your locally elected public school board, nor does the public get the opportunity to vote on who serves on a charter school's board of directors. Charter schools receive 95% of the FTE funds generated by their student enrollment. The remaining five percent of FTE (full-time equivalent) funds certainly does not cover the public school district's overhead.

One of the foundations of this country was that there be no taxation without representation. Charter schools in Florida have turned the tables on taxpayers. Each charter school's board is responsible for the management of that school, including its budget. What seems to be an overlooked feature of charter school governance is that control over the school's expenditures is in the hands of a board whose members were not elected by those who pay the taxes to operate these quasi-private schools.

This writer is of the opinion that what is discribed above consititutes "taxation without representation". The school board of public school districts in Florida are elected by the tax paying citizens of that school district. As the law is currently written the public school board can only keep a small percentage of the funds received to cover the district office support functions of all public schools. This small amount of revenue is meant to cover the overhead of the school district but in no way approaches the costs associated with providing services to all of the schools, including charter and conversion charter schools.

There are those who will come back with the comment that "charter schools are public schools too". While that is technically correct it overlooks the fact that the charter school laws grant charter schools more FTE funds than the "traditional" public schools receive. This shortfall causes the remaining schools to be shortchanged in their funding - to the benefit of the charter schools. Where is the equity in that?

Parents may be attracted in part to a charter school because of this new "choice" of an educational venue for their child. It would also be wise to be aware of the lack of choice they have in selecting those who make decisions regarding how their tax dollars will be spent to operate their child's charter school.

The board of directors of each charter school is the ultimate decision maker regarding the expenditure of the taxpayer dollars received for the operation of that charter school. The taxpayers never get the opportunity to vote on those who are members of the charter school's board of directors. There is no other way to describe this system other than "taxation without representation".