Some Broward cities consider starting charter schools. Here’s why.
South Florida Sun Sentinel | By Scott Travis |
As the Broward school district looks to downsize and find new uses for low-enrolled campuses, some local city leaders are pondering whether to get into the business of running schools.
The city of Parkland is conducting a feasibility study on the possibility of opening charter schools or converting existing district-run schools into charter schools. A city commissioner in nearby Margate is voicing similar interest in his city. If cities followed through, they would join Pembroke Pines and Coral Springs as operators of charter schools.
A new law that took effect July 1 makes it easier for more cities to open charter schools and even take over district-run schools.
Parkland Mayor Rich Walker told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he expects city staff to complete a feasibility study by this fall.
“I think it’s prudent for us to just weigh our options,” Walker said. “What happens from that point, who knows?”
Tommy Ruzzano, a city commissioner in Margate, is pushing for his city to operate charter schools. He said he’d like to use a management company, such as Charter Schools USA, which operates the high-performing City of Coral Springs Charter School.
“I would love to see Margate partner with some really good charter schools and get them into our city,” Ruzzano told the Sun Sentinel. “We can do everything we can for our cities, but we just can’t control the schools.”
The elected leaders have voiced concern about what may happen in the future as part of the “Redefining Broward County Public Schools” initiative, which could involve closing and repurposing schools. The district has more than 45,000 empty seats and has struggled to bring families back, despite most schools achieving A or B grades from the state.
Margate officials have worried the district may try to close or consolidate schools in the city, such as the low-enrolled Liberty Elementary.
Parkland schools are full and unlikely to be closed, but city officials are eyeing possible expansion. The state generally doesn’t allow a school district to build new schools to accommodate growth in the area as long as there is available space elsewhere in the district to accommodate students. Charter schools don’t face the same restrictions, so Parkland would be allowed to build charter schools.
“We have just under an 800-acre parcel of land in the city that’s not imminently getting developed but at some point it will, and I’m looking in the future,” Walker said, referring to farmland off Loxahatchee Road.
One issue that concerned Ruzzano was a June 9 email from Samantha Au, an analyst in the school district’s real estate department, asking about the possibility of rezoning vacant land next to Margate Elementary.
“Will the city permit affordable housing as it is currently zoned for community facilities?” Au asked Margate’s planning division. “Or does it need to be rezoned or need a variance? I would appreciate any information that you can provide to assist us.”
The district has already announced plans to try to create affordable housing for teachers at the site of the now-closed Dave Thomas East Education Center in Pompano Beach.
Ruzzano told the City Commission at a June 18 meeting, “they want to do affordable housing for the teachers because they don’t pay the teachers enough. I think this is absolutely ridiculous.”
At the June meeting, Ruzzano also voiced concern about the district’s poor execution of a 2014 bond referendum, which he said left some schools in a state of disrepair. And he said three out of four city schools had C grades. However, since then, new grades for the 2024-25 school year came out, and two Margate schools have A’s and two have B’s. All Parkland schools have been A-rated for years.
The Broward school district “has a strong partnership with both the City of Parkland and the City of Margate, which is reflected in the outstanding performance of all our A-rated schools in Parkland and our A and B-rated schools in Margate,” school district spokesman John Sullivan said.
While cities have been allowed for decades to operate their own charter schools, a new state law makes it easier and gives them more options.
One option is to take over a traditional public school as a “conversion charter school.” These schools have been allowed in state law since the late 1990s, and there are 23 of them.
But in the past, a majority vote by teachers and parents has been required to convert. Teachers have often been reluctant to approve it out of concern that their jobs, salaries and benefits may not be protected, school officials and observers say.
But under a law that took effect July 1, teachers no longer have a vote. A majority of parents must participate in an election, and a majority of those voting must say yes for the school to convert to a charter school. The conversion charter school could be run by a city or a nonprofit organization.
The new law also authorizes cities to open a charter school as a “job engine,” or way to attract new industries, with families working in those industries getting priority for admissions.
Parkland city commissioners were unanimous in their support for exploring charter school options during a meeting that was held on June 18, the same night Ruzzano brought up the issue in Margate.
“If this is a mission to find facts and see what options are available to us, I’m always going to be in support of something like that,” Parkland Commissioner Neil Kanterman said at the June 18 meeting. “I see no downside in at least looking.”
But there may not be unanimous support to pursue the idea in Margate. Mayor Arlene Schwartz, a retired Broward schools teacher and administrator, told the Sun Sentinel that she’s reluctant to compete with the school district.
“I think it’s a poor idea for the layman to think that they can do this. It takes an education. Not everybody can just open up a school because they think it’s a great idea,” she said Thursday evening.
However, a few minutes later she called back and said she would be open to starting a charter high school, since the school district doesn’t operate one in the city. Margate students are assigned to high schools in Coral Springs or Coconut Creek.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that if we hired a good charter school company, but I would hate to have an entire charter school system in the city and take away from the kids who are going to our schools and the teachers who work so hard,” she said. “I certainly understand people have wanted a high school here for a long time, and quite frankly, we don’t have one, and I don’t think we’re ever going to get one from the school system.”
Neither Broward School Board member Lori Alhadeff, who represents Parkland, or Nora Rupert, who represents Margate, could be reached for comment. Countywide Board member Allen Zeman told the Sun Sentinel that while he understands it’s tempting for cities to consider opening their own schools, he sees it as a bad idea.
“Having many smaller systems creates diseconomies of scale, not better public education,” Zeman said. “Smaller school systems would place major administrative burdens and risk on cities.”
He said the upfront and annual costs for the cities would be significant.
“For Broward cities, there should be some consideration about leaving the winning team at Broward County Public Schools,” Zeman said. “Broward’s public schools have notched significant gains, partly due to the economies of scale.”
It’s unclear whether any other cities are considering opening charter schools.
Fort Lauderdale has discussed the idea in the past, but there’s been no recent discussion, City Commissioner Steve Glassman told the Sun Sentinel.
Coral Springs, which operates the City of Coral Springs Charter School in an old mall, is looking for a larger space to expand, but there are no plans for additional charter schools, Commissioner Joshua Simmons said.
Pembroke Pines, a pioneer in the state when it comes to city-run charter schools, also isn’t looking to expand, Mayor Angelo Castillo told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The city has five schools that opened about 25 years ago during a time when district-run schools in the city were overcrowded and underperforming, the mayor said. Today, district-run schools in the city are underenrolled, and most are A- and B-rated.
“It’s the total flip. If the schools are not overcrowded and they’re performing, I don’t see what value we would add” by creating more charter schools, Castillo said. “This is not even on the radar in Pembroke Pines.”
