Can a City Run a Charter School? Innovative Solutions in Overcrowded Districts: City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, Operates a Municipal Charter School System

Charter school advocates across the nation are watching the Pembroke Pines Charter School System in Pembroke Pines, Florida. They’re watching because this growing city, located southwest of Fort Lauderdale, is the first municipality to operate its own kindergarten-to-12th grade charter school system.

“It’s unique. It’s innovative. It’s well run. It should be a model for the future, particularly for states like Florida,” Mary Kayne Heinze, spokeswoman for the Center for Education Reform in Washington, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel earlier this year.

Pembroke Pines began looking for alternatives in 1992 when demographic trends signaled imminent problems with classroom overcrowding. The city was growing too fast for the county-wide school district to handle.

Although legislation enabling nonprofit organizations to establish charter schools in the State of Florida was passed in 1996, a law clearing the way for municipally chartered school systems did not exist. To realize its vision the city had to lobby the Florida Legislature for the necessary amendment, and won.

In the fall of 1997, with the County School Board’s approval, the Pembroke Pines City Commission established a charter school system with a goal of providing a quality education for 2,400 students by 2001.

To purchase land and complete construction, the city developed an innovative Strategic Financing Plan, incorporating $10 million in loans and four bond issues totaling $72 million. Debt is being retired with rent payments the city charges back to the Charter Schools’ budget. The charter school system receives a per-student allocation from the state and operates on about 45% of what the local district spends.

Due in large part to the successful partnership between the city and its design-build partner, the first three schools opened within seven months of the city’s decision. Four years later, the city owns, operates and manages six schools and sixteen buildings on four Mediterranean-style campuses. A seventh school is scheduled to open in August. The charter schools now serve 5,200 students who are selected by lottery. There is a waiting list of 9,000.

Through academic partnerships, the city also built and leases facilities that share an 80-acre Academic Village campus with the city’s new Charter High School. This campus includes a regional library, a community college, a four-year university, a full-service performing arts center, and a sports facility with Olympic-sized pool, tennis and basketball courts.

The charter schools provide an excellent tuition-free education. Every class is capped at 25 students. Teachers and administrators have the freedom to innovate and teach. Students meet regularly with teacher-mentors. Parents give and receive support through a mandatory 30-hour annual volunteer requirement – which can be met by attending parenting workshops. The schools have surpassed state and district levels on standardized tests and have received Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation.

The Charter Schools and Academic Village facilities are all managed and operated by the City of Pembroke Pines. Instead of establishing a separate school district with an autonomous school board and professional superintendent, the City Commission serves as the school board, overseeing academic policy and management of school system, facilities maintenance and operations. The Charter School System’s 10,000 weekly meals are prepared in the kitchens of the City’s Senior Center.

All charter school system personnel are employees of the city’s Education Department. This innovative arrangement brings countless benefits and efficiencies to the charter system and area residents, and ensures streamlined operations, high standards, local oversight and total quality management.

For more information about the Pembroke Pines Charter School System, contact City Manager Charles Dodge, 954-431-4884 or email Charles Dodge.

Submitted by Kathleen Rhodes is a consultant assisting Pembroke Pines Charter School with funding and special projects.

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