Florida Legislature Poised to Give Preferential Treatment to Charter Schools With Conservative Political Agendas

Florida currently has over 726 charter schools in 46 (out of 67) school districts. Of those, just 2.5% (18 in 9 school districts) are Classical Charter schools. Currently two bills are moving through the Florida Legislature (SB996 and HB1285) that will give Florida’s Classical Charter schools advantages not offered to any other charter schools. So far, members of the Florida Legislature do not appear to be very curious as to why…

Some Background

In 2022, journalist Kathryn Joyce published a three-part investigative report in Salon entitled “How this tiny Christian college is driving the right’s nationwide war against public schools,” focusing on Hillsdale College, its Barney Classical Charter Initiative and how it has influenced “the far right’s national plan for schools: Plant charters, defund public education.” This appears to be the game plan in Florida. Indeed, in 2021, then Commissioner Richard Corcoran gave a speech, as part of a Hillsdale College Lunch Lecture entitled “Education is Freedom,” where he explained the role that Classical Charter schools will play in “winning the battle between the right and the left.”

Later that year, Tampa Bay investigative reporter Katie LaGrone, wrote “Classical education charter schools on the rise in Florida with help from small, conservative Michigan college,” following a Naples, FL. conference, hosted by Hillsdale College where Governor DeSantis acknowledged his support for the expansion of Classical Charter schools across the state. LaGrone noted “While Hillsdale’s Florida footprint dates back to 2014, its influence in the Sunshine State has surged under Governor DeSantis and former Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran.” Barney Bishop, retired lobbyist and Board Chair of Tallahassee Classical Charter, admitted the schools’ conservative political agenda, suggesting the schools were created to combat “wokeism”:

 “We’re trying to get away from the political movement of public schools who are trying to teach our children a woke political agenda. They started it. If they hadn’t started it there wouldn’t be a need for conservative schools.”

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/classical-education-charter-schools-on-the-rise-in-florida-with-help-from-small-conservative-michigan-college

A 2023 Network for Public Education Report exposed the proliferation of right-wing charter schools, focusing, in part, on “Classical” charter schools, Hillsdale College and its influence on Florida’s current education policy :

“Hillsdale College has been one of the most influential organizations pushing these charters. The small conservative Christian college in Michigan has become a major player in Ron DeSantis’s Florida; as the report says, “Tug any thread of Florida’s present education policy, and you will find this small Michigan college at the other end.””

https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2023/06/08/report-examines-the-world-of-right-wing-charter-schools/?sh=760b803b2638

Classical Charter schools are part of a political effort to advance conservatism.

Political Connections

Many of Florida’s Classical Charter Schools have connections to the politically powerful.

In 2011, Anne Corcoran, the wife of former House Speaker and Commissioner of Education, now President of New College of Florida, Richard Corcoran, wrote the original charter application for Classical Preparatory Academy in Spring Hill, Florida. Classical Prep now has two campuses. Mrs. Corcoran also served as a director and board member of Tallahassee Classical School, which was created as part of the  “Barney Charter School Initiative.” 

Jennifer Diaz, the wife of current Commissioner of Education, Manny Diaz, Jr., is the former vice-chair of the governing board of the Tallahassee Classical School. Tallahassee Classical made national news when its principal was forced to resign after a parent complained a Renaissance art lesson, featuring Michelangelo’s David, was pornographic.

Former Rep. Michael Bileca, the former Chair of the House Education Committee under Corcoran, founded True North Classical Academies, a network of four classical charter schools in Miami-Dade County. Bileca now serves as the Chair of the Florida Charter Institute (FCI) at Miami Dade College.

Erika Donalds, who was appointed to the Constitutional Revision Commission by Corcoran and is married to former state representative, now Congressman, Byron Donalds, launched OptimaEd, a for-profit company with the explicit intention of expanding Hillsdale’s network of schools. OptimaEd helps to establish classical charters and then manages them, for a fee, of course. Currently, OptimaEd was operates five classical charters in Florida and has plans to open four more in the next 2 years. Mrs. Donalds also founded Optima Academy Online, a remote-only classical charter school educates students through virtual reality headsets. Erika serves Moms for Liberty’s advisory board.

Let’s see: two schools founded by Anne Corcoran, another one associated with both Anne Corcoran and Jennifer Diaz, four founded by Mike Bileca, five by Erika Donalds… that accounts for 12 of the current 18 classical charters in Florida…

Suffice it to say, there are many politically connected individuals interested in the expansion of classical charter schools in Florida. Now, HB1285 and SB996 are poised to offer special privileges to those schools. Both bill sponsors, Rep. Jennifer Canady and Senator Danny Burgess, suggested that their bills would “further cement Florida as the premier state in the country for education.”

The Bills

HB1285 and SB996 make a wide variety of changes to Florida’s K-12 legislation, from turnaround deadlines, to administration of the ASVAB, to appointing the executive director of Education Practices Commission. Currently, both bills have been amended to allow enrollment preference to “students who transfer from one classical school in this state to a classical charter school in this state.” This is the first time the legislature has offered such preferential treatment to a specific type of charter school.

Both bills define a “classical school” as a “traditional public school or charter school that implements a classical education model that emphasizes the development of students in the principles of moral character and civic virtue through a well-rounded education in the liberal arts and sciences which is based on the classical trivium stages of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.” Though many classical schools began as part of Hillsdale’s Barney Charter School Initiative, it appears that association is not needed to benefit from the enrollment preferences.

In Senate Education Appropriations, Senator Tracie Davis asked whether “Classical Charters” were simply defined by their name or if they were a different model of charter schools. Sen Burgess conferred with staff and then said the schools were distinguished by their different specialized type of curriculum, noting that, throughout Florida, they are “excellent examples of a thriving school environment.” [If only there had been a followup question asking why students leaving one “thriving environment” should have an enrollment advantage when moving to another “thriving environment.”)

Rep. Canady’s HB1285 goes a step further. During the 2/7/24 House Education and Employment committee, HB285 was amended to require the State Board of Education to create a professional teaching certification specifically for those teaching in classical schools. The certificate would only be valid at a classical school and would not require the demonstration of mastery, subject area knowledge or professional preparation and education competence required by the standard teaching certification. Instead, teachers will demonstrate competency through the classical model of professional learning provided by the school. Committee members asked no questions and the amendment was adopted without objection.

SB996 is waiting to be heard in the Senate Fiscal Policy committee. It does not have the teaching certificate language (yet). HB1285 is ready to be heard on the House floor. To date there has been little attention paid to these bills.

It is time for people to start paying attention. Why should previous attendance at one charter school give a student preference when enrolling in a similar charter school? Should the FLDOE be creating a watered down version of a professional teaching credential, valid only at certain politically connected charter schools? Are these bills part of the far right’s national plan for schools (i.e. plant charters, defund public education) or are they meant to aid in “winning the battle between the right and the left.”