SCHOOL BOARD TO FIGHT CHARTER LAW ON ITS OWN
Goal is to block new law that requires sharing property tax dollars.
The Palm Beach County School Board is suing the state over a new law that requires it to share property tax dollars with charter schools, calling the requirement an unconstitutional attack on its authority to raise and spend local dollars.
Attorneys filed the suit Thursday afternoon against the state Board of Education and state Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, marking the first of what likely will be multiple legal challenges against House Bill 7069, a sweeping education bill passed by state lawmakers this spring.
School District officials say the new requirement that school boards share property tax revenue dedicated to construction and maintenance will cost the county’s public school system $10 million this year and an estimated $230 million during the next decade, imperiling much of the construction and renovation work they have planned for over the next several years.
The court action comes less than 24 hours after board members unexpectedly withdrew from a consortium of more than a dozen county school boards planning similar legal action and vowed instead to wage their own legal battle.
In the suit, board members contend that the new state law violates three sections of the Florida Constitution, including a provision decreeing that school boards “shall operate, control and supervise all free public schools within the school district and determine the rate of school taxes.”
“By mandating that school boards divert a portion of their discretionary millage to charter schools ... (the law) unconstitutionally preclude the Board from exercising its authority,” the suit alleges. The suit was filed by attorney Jon Mills of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner.
Charter school advocates, though, have condemned the plans for legal action, saying that charters are entitled to a portion of the School Board’s construction money because they educate public school students on the board’s behalf.
“Charter schools have been underfunded,” Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director of the Florida Charter School Association, told board members at their meeting Wednesday evening. The new law, she said, “brings some measure of equity.”
Board members agreed last month to join the other boards and approved contributing up to $25,000 toward legal costs.
But in a surprising reversal, board members voted unanimously Wednesday to pull out and file their own suit, saying that doing so would give them more control over the legal case and ensure a faster resolution.
Board members are hoping that a judge will block the law from taking effect before February when the district is due to pay out roughly $10 million to an estimated 33 charter schools that operate in the county and qualify for a portion of the money.
“It is likely to take much longer to prosecute the joint litigation and, consequently, it is extremely unlikely that we could have any court relief from paying out the capital funds in February,” board member Frank Barbieri said.
But going it alone is also likely to raise the School Board’s legal tab. Instead of the $25,000 approved initially, board members Wednesday approved spending up to $150,000 on legal fees.