The Pasco County School Board has rejected applications from four charter schools that hoped to open in August.

A fifth applicant, Abacus Math, Science and Technology Academy, withdrew its application before the Tuesday evening board meeting. But Superintendent Heather Fiorentino and her staff had recommended that application be denied as well.

The application for one of the schools, Classical Preparatory School, was submitted by Anne Corcoran, wife of state Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey. In addition, state Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, was on the proposed school’s board of directors.

One key reason a district staff report gave for recommending denial was that Classical Preparatory’s budget was dependent on a federal charter school startup grant it had no guarantee of receiving, said Nancy Scowcroft, the district’s charter schools supervisor.

Another reason was the school’s reading program didn’t meet the state’s curriculum standards.

In urging the board to approve the application, Anne Corcoran said she believed the school met the minimum curriculum standards for an application and that additional details could be worked out in the contract the school would sign with the district.

As for the federal grant, Corcoran said, “If we don’t get it we won’t open and we will put off opening until the next year.”

The school board’s vice chairwoman, Cynthia Armstrong, made the motion to accept the superintendent’s recommendation to deny the application. She said she felt the board needed to be consistent with previous decisions in which it rejected charter schools over budget issues.

Other board members expressed concern that the process is vague as to what should be handled in the application process and what could be worked out later during the contract process.

Board Chairwoman Joanne Hurley said the board may need to hold a workshop before next year’s application deadline so members can work out those concerns.

Charter schools are public schools that are operated privately. Charter schools sign contracts with local school boards.

This year, 11 charter schools applied to operate schools in Pasco. So far, the school board has accepted one application and rejected six, while two schools withdrew.

The other proposed charter schools the school board rejected Tuesday, and some of the reasons district staff cited for denying the applications, are:

• Florida Virtual Academy at Pasco: The enrollment projection of 500 students the first year was unrealistic and the courses did not appear to correlate with state standards, a staff report said.

• Somerset Academy Elementary and Somerset Academy Middle: According to the staff report, the applications for the two schools omitted that the management company that would run them, Academica, also operated a charter school in Brevard County that was shut down this year because of “failure to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management.”

Lara Silva, who would have been principal of the Pasco schools, told the board that Somerset schools have a track record of providing a quality education. She said she has been principal of a Somerset school in Broward County and that her children attended.

rblair@tampatrib.com (813) 259-7065  More

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