Texas-based IDEA Public Schools and Miami-based Somerset Academy, an affiliate of state charter giant Academica, received the board’s unanimous support to establish charter schools in communities where the district public schools routinely perform poorly on state tests and local improvement plans do not bring change.

We’re excited to serve these communities in Florida,’ said Dan Fishman, vice president of growth at IDEA.

He said his group had been meeting with civic leaders in Tampa and Jacksonville, among other cities, to determine where a school might be most needed.

IDEA plans to open four charter schools in Florida in August 2021, Fishman told the board. Chairwoman Marva Johnson asked why it would take so long, to which Fishman said it takes time to hire staffers, find property, build schools and prepare a viable academic program.

[IDEA Public Schools believes that each and every child can go to college.  Since 2001, IDEA Public Schools has grown from a small school with 150 students to the fastest-growing network of tuition-free, Pre-K-12 public charter schools in the United States. https://www.ideapublicschools.org/our-story]

Then, according to a June 15, 2018 article in the Miami Herald, Gov. Rick Scott signed the charter-school-friendly, $419 million K-12 public schools bill that has incited a groundswell of criticism and opposition statewide, rejecting arguments from traditional public school advocates. [HB 7069)

$140 million in the new “schools of hope” program signed into law as HB 7069, would be used to provide extra funding for up to 25 low-performing traditional public schools. The rest of the funding would go to “hope operators,” who could set up charter schools within five miles of “persistently” low-performing public schools. (Source: Florida Politics / 10.19.17)

All this raises questions:

1. Is Shawn Frost’s documented advocacy of charter schools an ethical conflict with his position as Chairman of the Indian River County School District?
2. Shawn Frost is a founding member of the Florida Coalition of School Board Members (CSMB) and was its President of the Board of Directors in 2017. CSMB commissioned a survey to be conducted by Mr. Frost’s company MVP Strategy and Policy LLC. for ~ $ 18K.  Is this another ethical conflict for a founder of one organization have its organization spend a serious percentage of their revenue on consulting services from a company the founder owns?
3. The business of MVP is to recruit, select and help elect selected school board members. So from a MVP perspective, term limits make sense.  Is Mr. Frost’s support of term limits align with his MVP business model?  The more school board candidates the more clients.
4. Mr. Frost, in supporting Amendment 8, “maintains a school board’s duties to public schools it establishes, but permits the state to operate, control, and supervise public schools they did not establish.”  This eases the way for charter schools to set up business. Will it then allow Mr. Frost to open new charter schools and become a management company?
5. What does Mr. Frost’s endeavors and Amendment 8 in general mean to “traditional” Florida public education?