As a new school year begins, Florida's local districts and the state teachers' union are renewing their perennial complaints about funding -- or lack thereof.
Yet oft-repeated doomsday scenarios of mass layoffs and slashed programs haven't played out. Indeed, districts have managed to avoid the kinds of cuts that had been predicted.
In St. Lucie County -- epicenter of one of the nation's worst real-estate collapses -- the 39,000-student district isn't laying off any employees. In fact, the school board was even able to lower its tax rate from $8.17 per $1,000 of (eroded) property value to $7.87 last month.
District spokeswoman Janet Karst doesn't downplay the fiscal stakes, saying, "Once again, we are facing extreme financial challenges."
But thanks to budget preening in 2009-2010, St. Lucie has avoided classroom cuts. Citing the implementation of streamlined bus routes and flexed high-school schedules, Karst said, "We continue to do more with less."
One reason there's "less" is the expiration of $100 million in federal stimulus funding this year -- a decision made in Washington. School districts also grumble about "unfunded mandates" from Tallahassee, and so they hold a sword of Damocles over student programs.
Amid the angst, however, public education in Florida is viewed as a growth opportunity by one group: charter schools.
Since 1996, the number of charters in the state has grown to more than 400, with enrollment surpassing 140,000 students and a collective waiting list of nearly 40,000 this fall.
Charters, which are public campuses that are independently operated, receive the same operational funding from the state that traditional public schools get. That amounts to a base per-pupil allocation of $3,400, plus additional funds for specific "categorical" programs.
But, unlike their established counterparts, charters are not eligible for state construction money until they've been in existence for three years.
Meantime, charters must fork over a 5 percent annual "administrative fee" to the local school districts. This fee is assessed on the first 250 students a charter enrolls.
But even with the supposedly paltry outlays from the state and no help for start-up capital expenses, would-be charter operators are lining up to open schools.
Last year, 252 charter applications were filed in Florida and 91 were approved.
Applications are up again this year. In Broward County, for example, applications have risen from 32 to 54.
Orange County, which will have 32 charter schools this fall, has received applications for 33 new schools that want to open in 2012. That's nearly double the 17 applications received last year, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Charter operators say they have one big advantage over the traditional public schools crying poor mouth: flexibility.
Where conventional campuses must contend with unions, collective-bargaining rules and administrative red tape, charters are freer to improvise and innovate.
"There are certain advantages," says Vickie Marble, who heads the Sarasota Student Leadership Academy, a charter middle school.
"We're not involved with tenured employees. Everyone works on a year-to-year basis. We can outsource our work. All our financial work is outsourced, meaning we do not have to pay benefits. We outsource our lawn maintenance," Marble said.
Unlike traditional school systems that resemble a vertically integrated, full-service conglomerate, charters can focus on education -- meaning that teachers make up a larger percentage of the work force at charters.
Charters have the option to join the Florida Retirement System, and the Sarasota Student Leadership Academy does. That's enabled the 330-student school to compete for the best teachers, pay them salaries comparable to the local district and retain them.
Marble's campus is a nonprofit, but for-profit companies have found that charter schools can operate in the black. Using economies of scale, bulk buying and standardized business practices, they drive costs down and make money for shareholders.
Still, Marble cautions that charters are not a license to print cash. With the state's capital budget divided among an ever-increasing number of schools, the funding pie is sliced thinner each year.
"It's very tough for a lot of new schools to make it," she says.
Yet if a charter survives academically and financially for three years, the road gets smoother. It then becomes eligible to receive additional funding by earning "high-performing" status. The "administrative fee" to the local district is reduced from 5 percent to 2 percent.
Crunching the numbers and seeing a rising demand for choice in education, aspiring charter operators appear bullish where tradition-bound and union-ridden educrats sound bearish -- even when charters receive lower reimbursements.
Charter operators know the opening of a new school year doesn't mean a financial windfall. But they see the funding glass as half full, not half empty. And like the expectant pupils lining up at their doors, these innovators are taking the initiative without complaint.
Even within the confines of unions and bureaucracies, traditional public schools can innovate too, as demonstrated by new Monroe County Superintendent Jesus Jara.
Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to serve as interim superintendent, Jara won board approval last week to outsource the 70-member custodial staff for a savings of $1 million.
Front-office administrative ranks have been pruned by four positions and assistant principals have been trimmed. Additionally, seven-day furloughs have been instituted for a $1.4 million annual savings.
"And we kept the cuts far away from the classroom," he added.
"The union wasn't happy, but everything was done within the terms of the contract," said Jara, noting that the custodial contractor will offer the district's laid-off janitors first dibs on the positions.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
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