No public funding:

Unfortunately during the first 4 years of operation we recieved no public financial support for facility costs. Each dollar we had to spend for rent or lease had to come from the operational funds provided by the state for each child in the school. This was not fair for our children, but until the courts or the Florida legislature remedies this situation charter schools may have to face this challenge. Legislation passed in 2006 did open up some capital funding to which we have become elgible since moving into our new school building.

How can you help?

This is a political issue. Even though the state constitution requires equal treatment of children, court ordered correction will likely take years to achieve. The legislature that has perpetrated the inequity that extends even among charter schools, still has to be the target. Call, write or E-mail your state legislators and let them know that for the sake of the children, funds should be provided so money from the operational funds need not be diverted to leasing safe school facilities. The goal must be a fair and reliable provision of capital money to be available for each charter school based on the school attendance.  Until this political issue is solved, there will remain an uncertainty in facility funding for charter schools.  Ownership of the building to be used by the charter school by CRC, removes some of the uncertainty for our school.

Building our own facility.

Even before the CRC-Charter School was opened the CRC corporation began working toward construction of a facility that could be used by the CRC Charter School to support the synergy between children learning and teacher training. After we won a USDA Rural Development loan, we purchased land, and developed plans only to be thwarted repeatedly by booming construction costs partially driven by hurricanes Francis and Katrina. Finally after two plan revisions we obtained a qualified constuction bid within our financial resources. Construction started in November2006 and was complete January 2008.  

The expense of this effort, and it has been expensive, has not been borne by the Charter School even though the primary beneficiary will be the school. CRC ownership gives us the security of having a better place, for reliably less money then we can obtain by lease from a for profit entity.  It means that the Charter School will not be threatened by inflationary rents, and as the years go on the growth of equity will give the parent not-for-profit corporation further strength. In the long term, this means that more resources can be directed to the process of education.