During the past 15 years, Florida has embarked on a dramatic shift in public education, steering billions in taxpayer dollars from traditional school districts to independently run charter schools. What started as an educational movement has turned into one of the region’s fastest-growing industries, backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians.
But while charter schools have grown into a $400-million-a-year business in South Florida, receiving about $6,000 in taxpayer dollars for every student enrolled, they continue to operate with little public oversight. Even when charter schools have been caught violating state laws, school districts have few tools to demand compliance.
SCHOOLS AND THEIR LANDLORDS
For property owners, it’s a profitable deal
Charter schools generally receive more than 80 percent of their income in per-student payments from the state. In addition to the roughly $6,000 per-student allocation — slightly less than what traditional public schools receive — charter schools also get some state funds for facilities and maintenance.
For most charter schools, finding a location is the greatest difficulty and expense. Most schools rent their facilities — in churches, shopping centers, or brand-new school buildings erected by real-estate developers.
Any property used by charter schools is exempt from property taxes.
Some schools devote less than 5 percent of their income to rent. Others pay crippling rates.
“Rent continues to be the greatest financial impact for our school,” administrators at Broward Community Charter West wrote in a report to the state Department of Education last year. The school was $118,000 in the red that year.
Neither the state nor the local school districts have rules or guidelines on how much a charter school lease should cost; nor are schools required to seek independent appraisals. But Hage, of Charter Schools USA, said a school’s lease should not eat up more than 20 percent of its revenue.
A Miami Herald review found 19 schools in Miami-Dade and Broward with rents exceeding 20 percent of their income in 2010 — about one in seven South Florida charter schools renting property that year. One Miami Gardens school spent 43 percent of its income on rent, according to audit reports.
Many of the highest rents are charged by landlords with ties to the management companies running the schools, The Miami Herald found. At least 56 charter schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties sit on land whose owners are tied to management companies, property records show.
For example, the Lincoln-Martí Charter School in Hialeah paid $744,000 in rent last year — about 25 percent of the school’s $3 million budget, even after the landlord reduced the rent by $153,000. The previous year, the school spent one-third of its income on rent, audit records show.
Records show the landlord, D.P. Real Estate Holdings, and the management company are run by the same man: former Miami-Dade School Board member Demetrio Perez Jr. Perez’s son, Demetrio J. Perez, works at the management company, which operates three Lincoln-Martí charter schools.
The Lincoln-Martí charter schools were established by three friends of the elder Perez, who owns a string of well-known private schools and daycare centers also called Lincoln-Martí.
The younger Perez said the school buildings are too large for the student body: Only 364 students attend the school, though the facilities can hold up to 1,000 kids. He said the rent, at $9.78 per square foot, is below market rate; however, the board did not seek an appraisal before approving the lease.
Board member Gil Beltran said the elder Perez plays no role in the school. However, at Perez’s request, the board agreed last year to guarantee $24 million in loans for his real-estate business, records show.
After school district officials objected, the bank released the charter schools from the loan last month. “We didn’t see anything inappropriate about it,” Perez’s son said.
His father’s company has also agreed to give the school $350,000 before the end of the school year as a gift, the younger Perez said. The school currently owes $250,000 in overdue rent.
School districts don’t have the authority to dictate the terms of a charter school’s lease, or any other financial deals. That role falls to a school’s governing board.
But in many cases, the governing board includes members with ties to the management company or the landlord — creating a potential conflict.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/19/v-fullstory/2541051/florida-charter-schools-big-money.html#storylink=cpy
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