Charter Schools in The Villages
 

Since the topic came up in another thread, I've posted a new one to address a discussion that was taking place inappropriately in that thread.

The charter school in TV has been called a private school, but I contend it is a public school. According to Florida law, it is a Charter School in the Workplace and they have the right to target a specific student population. Boundaries are work related and not geographical.
While it may seem a private school, it is in fact, public and Florida has a large number of such schools.

Information on private schools in The Villages is available from The Villages Charter School website.... http://www.thevillagescharterschool....eWorkplace.asp

While children may be enrolled outside of their school district in regular public schools, charter schools can have different criteria for student enrollment and here in The Villages, student eligibility is defined by three categories.

"The VCS is identified as a "Charter School in the Workplace" and operated as a Florida not-for-profit corporation. Established through Florida law, charter schools in the workplace are public charter schools with the ability to target a specific student population. Charter schools are public schools of choice. To read more about Charter Schools in Florida, click here. In our instance, the targeted population is the children of the employees.......

.....Student eligibility to attend our school is based upon a three category system. First priority is given to those students whose parents are direct employees of The Villages or The Villages Charter School. We currently have over 2000 employees working in such areas as administration, accounting, education, media, design, and others. Our second category consists of those parents who work for sub-contractors at The Villages. There are thousands of employees who work for our sub-contractors in the areas of home construction, maintenance, landscaping, hospitality, materials, food service, etc. Our third category consists of those parents employed by the businesses located on Villages' property. We have over 400 businesses on property including supermarkets, pharmacies, retail shops, medical offices and restaurants, to name a few."

The Villages Charter Schools - Central Office

This is taken from the 2012 Florida statutes. I am copying only the areas that pertain to The Villages Charter Schools. I've included the links in case you want to go read it in its entirety.


Taken from: 1002.33 - Charter schools. - 2012 Florida Statutes - The Florida Senate

1002.33 Charter schools.—
(1) AUTHORIZATION.—Charter schools shall be part of the state’s program of public education. All charter schools in Florida are public schools.

(10) ELIGIBLE STUDENTS
(d) A charter school may give enrollment preference to the following student populations:
4. Students who are the children of:
a. An employee of the business partner of a charter school-in-the-workplace established under paragraph (15)(b)

(FYI: FloridaChild | Workplace Schools The Florida legislature created a special class of charter schools called Charter Schools-in-the-Workplace. As the name suggests, those charter schools are housed at a company workplace and can give priority to the children of employees of the company. At present there are two such charter schools: JFK Medical Center Charter School in Palm Beach and The Villages Charter School in the Villages, Florida. The Villages operates four such schools for its employees: an Early Childhood Center, Elementary, Middle and High School.).

To reply to an issue from another thread about public schools and who can attend from outside municipal boundaries. I think that varies from state to state.

Someone who posts on here is still employed as a consultant to city of New York and who was a person who guided other educators on the state level in Ohio.

I hope she and others equally qualified will post on this.

You are right, Gracie. I learned something new today! Here's a website where people can read about each state. School Choice in America