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Audit: Charters data lacking

Many charter schools provide insufficient information to evaluate them under state and U.S. criteria, a state audit says.

TALLAHASSEE - Many of Florida's publicly supported charter schools are not being held accountable by the state's A-Plus Plan or the federal government's No Child Left Behind, an audit relased Monday said.

The charter school contracts and annual reports fail to include information required for the accountability sought by the Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush.

Student performance also varied, but was evaluated as "poor in one-third of charter schools," reported the Legislature's auditing arm, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.

"Charter schools' contracts generally do not establish clear academic performance expectations and often fail to include outcomes covering all grades served," the report said. "These weaknesses make it difficult for school boards and the general public to hold charter schools accountable."

Nearly half, 47 percent, of the schools during the 2003-04 school year were not held accountable by the A-Plus Plan because they did not have the required minimum of 30 students taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), while about one of eight schools failed to be accountable under No Child Left Behind.

"Like all programs, some charter schools surpass, some match and some perform lower than traditional public schools," Education Commissioner John Winn said Monday. "However, they all provide parents with a viable education choice and most enjoy a high degree of parent satisfaction."

In a response to the audit, Winn wrote that DOE concurred "that establishing clear performance expectations is essential to accountability and the operation of high-quality charter schools."

Bush said Monday he wasn't familiar with the latest OPPAGA report, but looked forward to working with the Legislature on resolving the deficiencies.

There are more than 300 charter schools serving more than 83,000 students in 42 of Florida's 67 school districts.

The Legislature authorized charter schools in 1996 for Florida. Private groups and corporations get public money to run public schools, free from many state and school district regulations.

[Last modified April 19, 2005, 01:19:14]