Firm Will Plead Case For Charter School

A private company seeking to open a charter school for Hernando County's dropouts will come before the school board Tuesday with more detailed information and a key addition to its resume.

The board is slated to vote on a proposal by Mavericks in Education D. Wade's School, a Fort Lauderdale-based firm that seeks to attract students aged 15-21 who have left the school system.

Mavericks submitted a revised proposed budget on Friday that shows the school is financially viable, said Mavericks CEO Mark Thimmig. The company also has hired a research firm to conduct a telephone survey of Hernando residents to back up its projection that the school would attract at least 350 students its first year.

Securing a polling company wasn't easy or inexpensive to do the week before the general election, but Mavericks is "dedicated to this cause," Thimmig said.

"We take their concerns seriously," Thimmig said of the school board. "The evidence we're going to present to the board will show we can do what we say."

The Pinellas County School Board last week unanimously approved an application by Mavericks to operate the same kind of charter school in that district.

"It is another validation that this is a quality school offering with quality people involved in delivering that school," Thimmig said.

School board members voiced skepticism about the plan during a workshop held Oct. 21 and attended by Thimmig and other Mavericks officials. The board asked Thimmig to bring back a revised budget to show how the company could still work if its projected enrollment of 350 students falls short.

Board members also want some evidence to back up that enrollment projection.

A district review committee has recommended denial of the application. Officials were doubtful that Mavericks could attract that many students and also cited a murky budget.

But the committee was most concerned that the application does not give adequate control to the school's governing board over the state funding, especially any public dollars left at the end of the school year.

Curriculum specialist Dave Schoelles, a member of the district review committee, received the survey and budget information late Friday.

He and the district's financial director hadn't had time to pore over the new budget, but he did note the new document clarified that any leftover public money would roll over to the next school year's budget. That's a key addition to ensure the money doesn't go to Mavericks as profit, Schoelles said.

"We want the governing board to decide how to spend that money, not (Mavericks)," he said.

The wariness is understood, said Steve Swartzel, director of governmental services for the Pinellas school district.

Swartzel said that district's approval of the contract is conditional on whether such key details can be clearly defined in the charter.

"I don't blame them for being skeptical," he said. "It's a brand new operation, a brand new company. We're pretty comfortable with the whole idea, but we still have some details to work out," he said.

Thimmig said he'll be back in front of the school board Tuesday to emphasize some results in the survey. The poll, conducted by SRA Research Group, asked 200 Hernando residents for input on the charter school idea.

Of the respondents: 41 percent said they knew a dropout; 75 percent had a positive impression of the charter school concept; and 88 percent said they would be interested in the school if their child had dropped out.

"Those are very compelling statistics," Thimmig said.