JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Public Schools said charter schools have had a significant impact on enrollment in the district’s schools.
People choosing charter schools is one of the trends contributing to DCPS exploring a plan to close and consolidate more than two dozen schools in the district.
Right now, there are 30,000 fewer students in Duval County Public Schools than there were 10 years ago.
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Since the 2017-18 school year, there has been a steady increase in charter school enrollment, with almost 2,000 additional students in Duval County charter schools just about every year.
Looking at the current charter school enrollment figures from DCPS, elementary schools have more than 13,500 students, middle school has just over 7,100 students and high school has just over 4,100 students.
But why are parents choosing charters? We asked News4Jax viewers.
“We put our kids in Charter school from the time of Kindergarten- the largest determining factor in this was convenience. The charter school is 3 miles from our house and the zoned middle school is closer to 12 miles that they would eventually attend. We liked the idea of a K-8 school for our children,” Chris Gilbert said.
“I removed my children from public school to a Charter School due to the class size being extremely high,” Jasmine Lemons said. “My children now are in a smaller family environment, where they are not overlooked.”
One parent said they just enrolled their 6th grader in a charter school and said, “He has ADHD and some learning difficulties and was struggling academically, so we decided to try Seaside Charter as an alternative. We liked the idea of smaller class sizes and the more holistic approach to education.”
“Yes we moved onto charter schools starting at middle school, strong discipline and structure takes place with the kids, small classes...usually 15 kids per class is the average, the teachers seem happy, and the education core is strong. We have been very happy and have been with the charters for 5 years now. One in Middle and the other child is in High School,” parent Katie said.
Another parent said they had to take their child out of a charter school and put them into a traditional public school. She said the experience was better at the charter school.
“The difference in his education and experience is immense. The individual care and compassion is gone. Public school is just pushing these children through, and they do not care as much as RCSA did,” they said.
State Representative Angie Nixon said schools see this often.
Some students leave public schools to go to charter schools and end up back in public schools sometimes creating a financial gap.
There is also pending legislation to make it easier for charter schools to take over vacated district buildings if the district enrollment declines by 1% for two successive years.
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“There’s a massive push for charter schools, because at the end of the day, education is a moneymaker for some folks. But it’s a moneymaker at the detriment of many of our children,” Nixon said.
Nixon sparked a conversation on Facebook after she posted school grades from December.
Data from the Florida Department of Education from 2023 shows of 37 charter schools in Duval County, 11 received an A, 3 have a B, 14 are C schools, 4 have a D, and 3 schools got an F. Two schools received incomplete grades from the state.
So a majority of charter schools that got a grade, got a C or lower.
“People feel as though our Duval public schools are not up to par, but they are. And so we need to let folks know that those are our schools, we can demand what we want to see in them, we just have to get engaged and get involved,” Nixon said.
Nixon said she has nothing against charter schools but wants accountability for students.
“So what I’m doing about it is I’m working with other community partners to offer free tutoring lessons, free LSAT prep, this is all free. This is all like, you know, some of us are coming out of pocket for it. We’re not trying to make any money at all, we just want to make sure that our children, particularly in Northwest Jacksonville, are put in a situation where they can succeed,” Nixon said.
News4JAX reached out to DCPS to ask for its response to some of the parents who said they chose charter schools over Duval County Public Schools. A spokesperson said they were working on a response.