NAPLES — Officials have shut down at least five schools run by the Richard Milburn Academy of Florida, yet the company has continued to operate and open new taxpayer-funded campuses in the state.
Florida's 622 charter schools are more likely than regular public schools to receive an A rating from the state but also more likely to fail, the Naples Daily News reported Sunday. In the last six years, Some 14,000 students have had to relocate to new schools, at times midyear, as a result of these closings. Financial problems are the most common reasons for closure. Florida does not require upfront funding commitments for charter campuses to open.
Academic failures are the second most common cause. That was the case with most of the Richard Milburn schools. Two of its schools closed after administrators manipulated grades in Lee County. In the Tampa Bay area, two were shut down due to low academic performance, and one in Manatee County was closed after half the graduating class received diplomas despite lacking sufficient credits.
Richard Milburn Academy of Florida Inc. chairman Houston Conley helped lead four of the closed schools and advised a fifth. He now serves as chairman of two other Richard Milburn schools in Volusia County. He referred questions to the group's consultant Donna Eldridge.
Eldridge expressed support for Conley and the other Richard Milburn board members and said the schools have helped provide hundreds of at-risk students with last-chance opportunities to earn diplomas.
State Rep. George Moraitis Jr., R-Fort Lauderdale, who leads a House committee that handles school choice, said the beauty of the charter movement is that it "allows for greater success and flexibility, and it does allow for failure." He said it is much harder to close a traditional school.
Florida requires few qualifications for those serving on the charter governing boards of charter schools. These board members manage the tax dollars the schools receive. Once a contract has been given, neither county nor state officials have a say in a board's makeup.
In recent years, lawmakers have improved the charter application process, which must cover 19 components and can span hundreds of pages. County school districts can make recommendations to their school boards about which to approve, but they must focus on the proposals, not on whether they think the charter applicant can execute the paper plan. That means applicants also can't be judged on their previous failures or successes.