MIAMI (AP) — A Florida State Representative with ties to the charter school industry has been tapped to oversee a bill revising state charter school contracts.
Republican House leaders recently chose Hialeah Rep. Manny Diaz Jr. to handle the bill. Diaz was recently named Dean of Doral College. The school is run by Florida’s largest for-profit charter school company Academica.
Diaz spent two decades at the Miami-Dade County school district. The Miami Herald reported Friday that Diaz has promised to run the bill in a fair and balanced manner (http://hrld.us/1aSvv5u ). But some education advocates see the appointment as part of a pattern of the legislature backing charter schools over traditional public ones. School districts say the bill could make it harder for them to negotiate with charter schools or reject sub-standard charter applications.
Source: Associated Press
