Every charter school in Florida is authorized and managed by the elected members of the local school district. But in the coming months this longstanding dynamic is set to undergo a tectonic shift, starting in Miami.
As soon as next March, Miami Dade College will begin to authorize new charter schools, according to a presentation given to prospective charter schools that WLRN reviewed. The move, for all intents and purposes, cuts the authority of Miami-Dade Public Schools to oversee charter schools in the nation’s third-largest school district.
Charter schools are privately-run schools that use public money. But they are considered public schools by law, and as required for all public schools by the Florida Constitution, they are managed as public schools…