The School Board of Polk County, Florida appealed an order of the State Board of Education which allowed Renaissance Charter School, Inc. to operate a charter school in Polk County over the objections of the School Board. The School Board argued that the proposed charter school’s educational program did not “substantially replicate” that of the high-performing charter school being replicated.
The District Court of Appeal agreed with the School Board that Renaissance’s proposed charter school’s educational program did not substantially replicate that of the school to be replicated. The proposed school, composed mostly of kindergarten and elementary grade students, and the middle school on which the application was based neither shared the same characteristics, nor were they alike in substance or essentials. Furthermore, nowhere in the record did any representative of Renaissance articulate how the educational program of the high-performing middle school would be replicated so as to serve the students of different age and grade levels.