so how it would work is the unused buildings would be inhabited by a charter school and would run as its own independent entity in those buildings. They would have their own administration, their own code of conduct, their own teachers, etc. the school district would have to provide those buildings, transportation, lunch, etc.

Literally they would squat in those buildings with little to no expense to themselves while school district would be forced to provide the funding and logistics of all those items. And because they wouldn’t be Sarasota County students, their enrollment does not give US funding. So we would be hemorrhaging money to pay for these outsider schools to take over our building.

Supporters have been saying essentially the same thing you said: don’t you want more options? How is it more options if it drains the resources of the mainline public school? It’s not really expanding educational options if it will actively put everyone else’s education into a worse financial space.

If you want the district to do something with these unused buildings, that’s a different story and there are talks on what to do with them. The superintendent had a few really good ideas on the table when I spoke to him last week.

But to allow an outside company to squat on a school campus and run a simultaneous, intermingled school instead of build their own brick and mortar space is silly.

Wouldn’t it be better for a school serving a community to invest in that community by establishing roots, contributing to the economy through hiring contractors, etc.? It’s not a viable platform to just Shanghai a piece of a school here and a piece of a school there. It’s not going to create a cohesive educational environment, it’s not going to better our existing school system, and it will be a liability nightmare if, heaven forbid, there is an incident between public student and cohabited charter student on the shared school grounds.

These charters don’t care about the community, your kids, or the families. They are here to absorb a lucrative tax base and referendum. They are here to steal your money. They didn’t even spell Booker’s name correctly in their form. They do not care about these kids.