After lengthy Warrington charter school transition, new Florida law simplifies the conversation process of failed ‘turnaround schools’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this week put the spotlight on House Bill 1285, a comprehensive education bill that he signed on Tuesday. The measure streamlines the book objection process and establishes Purple Star School Districts. It also simplifies the process to convert failed “turnaround schools” to charter schools, a subject that hit close to home.

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One day before the bill signing, Gov. DeSantis shared details of the legislation at a press conference held at Warrington Preparatory Academy, a recent example of a “turnaround school” that transitioned to a charter school in Escambia County last year.

“I think people are going to say it's been largely a positive thing that's happened, but this is not something that happened easily,” said DeSantis. “There was a lot of gnashing, of teeth. There was a lot of dragging the feet.”

The governor is referring to the lengthy time it took for the Escambia County School Board to complete the process of transitioning the former Warrington Middle School, a long-struggling, low-performing school that had been in ‘turnaround’ status, to a charter school.

RELATED: New Warrington charter readies for its first year

For such turnaround schools, a district has options for how to remediate. An outside operator could be brought in, the school can be closed, or it can be converted to a charter school.

“Here, they had tried some stuff locally, it didn't work,” DeSantis began. “So then they said, ‘We're going to do the charter.’ But it took forever to be able to do the charter contract.”

After the Florida Board of Educationthreatened to withhold their salaries, the board finally approved the contract with Charter Schools USA, which operates Warrington Prep, in May of last year. That was long after the transition process began, but just a couple of months before the charter school was to begin operations.

“If you have a school that's getting F-graded grades, we need to remediate very quickly,” stated the governor. “You have to execute that path forward.”

Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz echoed the governor’s sentiment.

“At the end of the day, we have to focus on the students and what happens to these students who are sitting for years in a failing school, not getting what they need,” he said. “They do not get that time back.”

Diaz spelled out some of the specifics of the legislation, including an improved timeline.

“Once a turnaround school is reopened as a charter school, the school district must continue to operate the school for the following school year, and a district must execute a charter school turnaround contract no later than October 1,” stated Diaz.

Further, the transfer of the school has to be complete by July 1 of the next year, after which the district may not reduce or remove resources from the school.

“It's very important that we give the operator the opportunity, with all the resources are there, to make that evaluation, to be able to see what programming and what personnel are kept,” he said.

Additionally, an incoming charter school must give preference to kids in the previous school zone and must serve the same grades as the previous school. Also, the charter school cannot be charged for rent for the facility and the school district cannot charge an administrative fee.

For the Escambia County School District, those were two points of contention that held up the contract agreement with Charter Schools USA.

Speaking for herself, current School Board Chairwoman Patty Hightower says she still has some reservations about not being able to collect any fees for services provided.

“If we’re going to continue to be the oversight organization, then there ought to be something that compensates us for that job.”

Overall, though, she believes the new legislation is fair, especially since the board’s realization that some of the issues with the Charter Schools USA contract were rooted in the fact that the district was initially working with their contract template for a regular charter school, not one specifically designed for a failing 'turnaround school' transitioning to a charter.

“I think this legislation is in response to that difference,” she began. “You know, if I want to start a charter school, there’s a process for that. If you want to turn a school that’s struggling into a charter school, this (legislation) is the process that you would use for that.”

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During the Monday press conference with the governor, the Superintendent of Charter Schools USA, Dr. Eddie Ruiz, applauded the new state rules that now provide a clear pathway for future turnaround-to-charter school transitions.

“We were the Guinea pigs,” said Ruiz, noting the short prep time and the delay his organization experienced in getting help with the transition of the former Warrington Middle School before HB 1285. “But this bill will really open up the red tape that maybe is out there to get action down to where students need it.”

During this first year of operation, Ruiz said there has been progress in the academic performance of students at Warrington Preparatory Academy, and he thanked the state, school district officials, and others in the community for doing some of the hard work needed to make a difference there.

 “NAS Pensacola, they did a program with us for (DoD) STARBASE 2.0,” said Ruiz. “They're here working with our students, every two weeks, working with our 6th-grade students on a STEM-based project. And so we're the only ones in the district that they're doing that with. And we are super excited to see that continue and progress towards the future. We received a large grant for Triumph Gulf Coast, to help workforce education, not only for our students around certification, but helping our parents in our community.”

Despite the challenges in getting to this point, School Board Chair Hightower said she was glad to see improvements at the charter school.

“My personal opinion is that if we can do something that will help stabilize that community and help those children learn, then that was a good move on our part,” she said. “They’re still our students. They will come back to us after middle school and they will be our students before they go to middle school.”