PEMBROKE PINES
CHARTER SCHOOLS SHARE DISTRICT'S PAIN
Ask residents why they live in Pembroke Pines, and a good many will answer, ''The charter schools, of course.'' The city's seven schools have perennial waiting lists. Their graduation rate is near 90 percent, while the Broward County School District's rate is 66 percent.
Today the City Commission commendably stays out of school business even though commissioners are responsible for education in the city.
Pembroke Pines showed how cities can run a good education system. However, the halcyon days may be over as the city must struggle with less money from Tallahassee and a state formula that gives less to charter schools for capital improvement.
While the Legislature allocates the same per-pupil funds to charter and district schools, the district gets more money for capital improvement. The city for years has tried to persuade the School Board to pony up for construction costs. But the board has told the city to persuade the Legislature to change the spending formula. So to build more classrooms and pay some operating costs, the city is dipping into its reserve fund for schools. Pembroke Pines also is suing the School Board in pursuit of more construction dollars.
Now the Legislature has dealt all Broward's public schools -- district and charter -- a blow. Lawmakers allocated $3,900 per student for the next school year, down from $4,017 this year. That adds up to a $621,036 loss for the Pines schools' 5,300 students. Legislators also dropped several million dollars in cost-of-living differential funds for the Broward district, plus other cuts, so the School Board isn't likely to give charter schools a sympathetic ear on money woes.
Pines officials may consider dropping the popular teachers' aides program or reducing aides' hours to pay for more classrooms and fill funding gaps. City officials have taken pride in their charter schools, and rightly so. Yet Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo recently suggested that the schools may have to be shut down in three years if more state funding isn't forthcoming.
That seems a tad over dramatic. More likely, Pines schools will have to forgo some features that have helped give them a solid performance record. That would be a shame. But the bigger shame is that all Broward's public schools will have to make sacrifices -- a lose-lose for everyone.
