Lawmaker demands investigation into costs of Orlando charter school rally

[proud2BlibKansan]

A ranking Democratic member of the House Education Committee is demanding that the state Department of Education investigate the costs of a charter school rally held in Orlando this week.

Rep. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, said in a letter Friday to Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson that he wants "to guarantee that no entity receiving Florida taxpayers' dollars be allowed to ever spend those dollars in similar fashion."

Charter Schools USA, a for-profit company that manages 25 Florida charter schools receiving an estimated $140 million in state funding, bused about 2,000 teachers, administrators and other employees from across the state on Thursday to a daylong rally at the upscale Rosen Plaza Hotel on International Drive.

The event, to kick off the new school year, was attended by Gov. Rick Scott, an ardent charter school supporter.

more . . . http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-charter-rally-probe-20110819,0,765886.story