Florida Senate Approves Bill Allowing Only Parents To Vote On Converting Public Schools To Private Charters

Florida Politics reports:

Senators voted 30-7 for the bill (SB 140), which would change the standard by which Florida municipalities can turn over a public school’s facilities and operations to a private education company.

SB 140, which still needs to pass in the House, would modify state statutes to remove district School Boards, principals, teachers and school advisory councils from being able to apply for a conversion charter school. It would also delete a requirement that at least half of the teachers employed at a given school approve the conversion.

That decision would instead fall solely to parents with children currently enrolled at the school, and only a majority of them would have to support the change. In its final committee stop last week, the bill’s sponsor, Pensacola Republican Sen. Don Gaetz, argued that despite all the charter-focused changes, there is “nothing in the bill that favors charter schools.”

Read the full article. Don Gaetz is Matt Gaetz’s father.

New: Florida Senators just passed a bill to allow only parents to vote on converting a public school into a charter school. Teachers are currently also included in the voting process. This measure would exclude them.https://t.co/NMRfScwUVC

— Jesse Scheckner (@JesseScheckner) April 24, 2025