Public dollars used to pay for private schools

Public dollars used to pay for private schools
For-profit charters schools blossom
Jacksonville Business Journal

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Duval County Public Schools, spoke to a reporter with the Jacksonville Business Journal yesterday to express his concern with what he sees as a growing threat to public education from private for-profit charter schools.

Vitti says that the growth of charter schools in Duval County is mirroring the growth in Miami – Dade County, and, at times, failing to fill in the gaps.

However, parents of children attending Duval County Public Schools say that they have become increasingly dissatisfied with the public schools in Jacksonville and are looking for a better alternative. Vitti and others on the school board acknowledge that charter schools are expanding rapidly in Duval County.

The spurt in charter schools is astounding: More than 26 charter schools have opened across Duval County over the last five years, according to a recent report by Duval County Public Schools, while only three traditional public schools have opened in that same time.

Branding themselves as “private schools without the tuition”, charter schools are showing they can be a profitable business, as well as a viable education alternative.

It’s a troubling trend for Superintendant Vitti.

Photo credits: © 2014 James Crichlow for Jacksonville Business Journal