The Florida State Board of Education (SBOE) voted to dismiss an appeal by the School Board of Alachua County and granted a charter conversion application for the Newberry Community School, currently the Newberry Elementary School (NES), on Wednesday.

The process of converting NES from a public to a charter school goes back to February 2024, when a 501(c)(4) organization, Education First for Newberry (NEF), announced a campaign to convert all three of the town’s public schools into charter schools. 

The initiative to convert NES, Oak View Middle School and Newberry High School (NHS) failed on all three counts in April 2024. The NES parent vote passed by a wide margin, 149-125, but a dispute arose with the teacher portion after a rejected vote left the count at 22-21 in favor of converting, out of 44 teachers.   

At the time, the state statute required at least 50% of eligible teachers to vote in favor, and state board rules required a majority, so 23 teachers needed to vote yes. This rule has since been changed.  

In May 2024, the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) ultimately ruled the charter conversion vote by NES parents and teachers as successful. 

In February, the Florida Charter School Review Commission (CSRC) approved an application submitted by NCS to convert NES into a charter school.  

During its March 12 regular meeting – two weeks after the CSRC’s vote – the SBAC authorized its legal counsel and superintendent to file an appeal with the state board concerning the charter application.  

Two weeks following the school board’s meeting, attorneys from the Tallahassee-based firm Sniffen & Spellman, P.A., sent a letter on behalf of the school board to the State Board of Education on March 26, appealing the CSRC’s decision to approve NCS’ charter application.   

After being postponed in July, the SBAC’s appeal was denied during a Charter School Appeal Commission (CSAC) hearing on Aug. 25.  

According to a social media post by Newberry Mayor Tim Marden, the hearing was held Aug. 25 in Tallahassee, with the school board having brought 10 appeals before the CSAC. 

“The basis of the SBAC’s appeals were to contest the February Charter [School] Review Commission’s unanimous vote in favor of the Newberry charter conversion,” Marden wrote in the Aug. 28 post. “All 10 appeals were denied.”  

In an email reply to Mainstreet, Jackie Johnson, spokesperson for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS), stated that the hearing lasted approximately four hours, during which commission members listened to arguments from both parties and posed their own questions.  

Ultimately, Johnson said the CSAC voted to recommend that the state board approve the conversion charter school application. 

During Wednesday’s meeting, both parties – NCS and SBAC – were given five minutes to present their arguments to state board members. 

Shawn Arnold, an attorney representing NCS, said the school board’s appeal is “meritless.” 

“Alachua County argues that the statute is unfair,” he said. “That is not something that comes before you. That is something that goes to the legislature.” 

Arnold added that the SBAC was late in filing its appeal. 

“The CSRC gave its written approval on March 10. Assuming that there was authority under the charter statute to grant Alachua County’s appeal, the school board had only 30 days to do that,” he said. “The deadline was April 9. The school board filed, instead, on April 30. Your own rule says that you have no authority to oversee a late-filed appeal.” 

Amy Envall, an outside lawyer representing SBAC on the charter appeal, addressed the timeline for submitting the appeal. 

“There is a letter issued from the General Counsel for Florida DOE [David Chappell] on April 2 that reiterated the Charter School Review Commission’s decision and that it could be appealed within 30 days,” she said. “The school board went ahead and asked for clarification on that [and] received confirmation from the general counsel that that was 30 days from the date of the letter. On April 30, the school board submitted its charter appeal to the Charter School Appeal Commission, so we’re considering that to be timely filed.” 

Envall said the CSRC “is not merely a fact-finding entity.”  

“It is vested with the power to review and approve applications for charter schools overseen by district school boards,” she said, adding these decisions may be appealed in accordance with state statute.  

Arnold said over 20 applications have been submitted to the CSRC. He added that only one has been approved, and that is the NCS application.  

“That underscores the rigor of the CSRC’s review of charter applications and also shows the strength of this particular application,” he said. 

The state board ultimately voted unanimously to deny NCS’s motion to dismiss the SBAC’s appeal and approved a recommendation by the CSAC to convert NES into a charter school. 

NCS is expected to open in the fall of 2026. 

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.