WEST PALM BEACH – A divided state appeals court has embraced the arguments of two Palm Beach County charter schools that challenged a 2018 voter referendum which provided additional tax funding for only traditional public schools.
In a 7-4 en banc vote, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed an opinion issued last year by a three-judge Fourth District panel. The appeals court found that the language of the 2018 initiative excluding charter schools, which voters approved, violated a state law that was in effect at the time.
“We conclude that the 2018 referendum’s exclusion of charter schools violated section 1002.33 (17) … providing ‘students enrolled in a charter school, regardless of the sponsorship, shall be funded as if they are in a basic program or a special program, the same as students enrolled in other public schools in the school district.’
The court then concluded that the “non-charter” limitation in the measure could be severed, allowing the remainder of the initiative’s language to remain in force. In turn, both charter and traditional public schools could reap the benefits of the referendum, the court said.
“The well-reasoned decision of the 4th DCA en banc ruling is an important step to ensuring all students who attend charter schools in Florida receive all funds required by Florida law,” Shawn Arnold, the attorney representing the Academy for Positive Learning and the Palm Beach Maritime Academy, told the Florida Record in an email.
The appeals court also certified to the state Supreme Court the question about whether local school boards are required to share voter-approved tax revenues with independent public charter schools.
“That means neither of the parties need to do anything at this point, and the court will decide whether to take it up,” Arnold said.
Charter school advocates have also argued that excluding Palm Beach County charter schools from the initiative would have led to an unfair funding disparity between the charters and district schools, putting charters at a disadvantage in terms of teacher hiring.
In a dissent, Judge Robert Gross said the majority acted not as a court of law in the case but as a political body.
“Finding the exclusion of charter schools from the referendum to be unlawful, the majority has wielded the doctrine of severability to sever the word ‘non-charter’ from the referendum and hold that charter schools are entitled to (a) share of the proceeds,” Gross wrote. “This act of judicial hocus pocus disenfranchises the voters of Palm Beach County and violates section 1011.71 (9) … which requires voter approval for the tax to be valid.”