Four candidates running for seats on the School Board of Alachua County spoke in a panel at Hoggetowne Middle School, a charter school, on Tuesday evening.
About 80 people attended the event, which focused on charter schools.
A charter school is a non-profit, privately-run school funded by the public, according to Gaspar Nichols, the principal of Hoggetowne Middle School.
April Griffin and Rick Nesbit are running in the Tuesday elections for the District 1 seat, and Carol Oyenarte and Jancie Vinson are running for the District 5 seat.
During the panel, the candidates expressed their support for charter schools and the roles the schools play in the public school system.
Nesbit said that he sees charter schools as a way to experiment with curriculum in a way that can’t be achieved in public schools.
There are more than a dozen charter schools in the county, according to Nesbit.
The candidates also discussed funding for the schools.
“It’s always about money,” said Neal Drake, who founded The One Room School House, which was the first charter school in the county.
The myth is that charter schools take away funding from public schools, he said. “I’d like to see that myth go away.”
According to Drake, charter schools actually bring in money from the national and state level — money that public schools use
Other questions brought up during the panel included whether candidates believed that charter schools pose an economic risk to public schools and if they would promote small local charters.
“I thought the candidates did a pretty good job,” Drake said. “It’s difficult to get very specific on a lot of issues so detailed.”
Drake said that he was glad that the whole event centered on charter schools and he believes that no candidate is feared by any charter school parent.
“The board seems open to learn about charter schools,” he said.
