Board members of a proposed science and technology charter school in southeast Volusia County will fight for School Board support despite the superintendent's recommendation to deny their application.
Southeast Volusia School of Science and Technology president and board chairman John Massey will make his case at Tuesday's public meeting.
Also known as SEV Sci-Tech, the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) project-based academy for grades 6-12 would open for the 2019-20 school year.
Two other charter school applications that were aiming for approval Tuesday have been withdrawn, Volusia County Schools spokeswoman Nancy Wait said Monday. Superindendent Tom Russell also recommended against those applications.
Massey said he hopes letters from the mayors of New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater and Oak Hill, plus a strong display of community and business support will sway the School Board in the charter’s favor.
The school, if it opens, will follow in the footsteps of Burns Science and Technology Charter School in Oak Hill, Massey said, pointing to that school's 470-student waiting list as a benchmark of its success. That school's director, Jan McGee, also will oversee SEV Sci-Tech.
“We’re talking about taking that model to the high school level, then expanding it into strong career and technical-type pathways,” said Massey.
But is the evaluation of SEV Sci-Tech, district officials noted application deficiencies in the areas of exceptional student education, governance, facilities and student recruitment and enrollment that were “too serious to recommend approval this year.”
The application process for charter schools is governed by state law, and requires applicants to complete a state form that local school district officials then evaluate.
"The application only 'meets the standard' in 53 percent of the application areas," the district officials wrote. "The remaining 47 percent of the application areas are rated as 'does not meet the standard' or 'partially meets the standard.' The problems identified in the evaluation are substantial."
Massey, though, suggested budget concerns may have clouded district officials’ outlook. At a School Board meeting two weeks ago, school officials said they are facing a $4.2 million shortfall in planning for the upcoming school year.
“Even though that’s not really allowed to be a basis for denial, it’s certainly in the back of their heads,” said Massey. “Maybe if things were different financially with the district they would have a different attitude.”
Instead of students paying tuition to attend as at a private school, charters receive around $7,000 in public funds for every student who attends. SEV Sci-Tech expects to draw 1,200 students within five years, the application shows. That would amount to $8.4 million annually that the school district would not receive.
But Massey said there are plenty of students to go around. A count of current construction projects in the Southeast Volusia area shows more than 5,000 single- and multi-family residential units under way or starting in the next two or three years, he said.
“These are not retirement communities or 55-and-over communities,” said Massey.
He also disagreed with the School Board’s evaluation showing SEV Sci-Tech would not meet the state standard for attracting students with learning impairments. “Because of the type of programs we have, we think our school is going to help those very students succeed where they might not in a traditional class setting. Yes, we want those kids,” Massey said.
District officials declined to comment on their recommendations ahead of Tuesday's meeting. "We are going to let the staff report stand as our comment," Wait wrote in an email.
The School Board also recommended denying two other charter school applications.
Florida East Coast Charter, a K-to-5 school to be located at 499 S. Nova Road, Ormond Beach, planned to attract about 600 students in five years.
Its application, which Wait said was withdrawn Monday, stated its goal of fostering engagement through “hands-on project-based learning” with a focus on science and math. The application failed to meet state-mandated standards for a start-up plan, governance, budget, facilities and transportation, the School Board’s evaluation stated.
A representative from Collaborative Educational Network, Tallahassee-based consultant for the school, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Dreamers Technical Academy, a potential 250-member high school, would target students who have had “limited academic success” and “act as a net for students who have fallen through the educational cracks,” its application states.
Just 26 percent of the charter's application was compliant with state standards, the district’s analysis found.
Dreamers board representatives expressed intentions to rewrite and resubmit the application in the near future, Wait said.
The School Board meets at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the district's offices at 200 N. Clara Ave., DeLand.