Newberry city leaders approve financial letter of support for charter school conversion

NEWBERRY, Fla. (WCJB) - City leaders in Newberry unanimously voted to send state officials a letter guaranteeing millions of dollars to fund their charter school conversion plan if the Newberry school board can't pay for it.

Commissioners will be sending the letter next week as part of the charter school application process.

Newberry officials say they believe their school board will be able to cover the majority of the costs, but the city is promising to be a financial backstop in a worst-case scenario.

Officials estimate the total cost for the charter school conversion, including building and staffing the school, as well as the costs they've incurred already, will be about $2 million.

In April, about 50 percent of parents and teachers voted to convert Newberry Elementary from a public school into a charter school.

Due to discrepancies in state statutes and ballot counting measures, Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton did not consider the vote passed, but Newberry city leaders did. Commissioners moved forward with conversion plans for Newberry Elementary.

Several teachers left their positions at Newberry Elementary in the summer of 2024.

In August, a Florida Board of Education decision established that only 50 percent of voters needed to vote in favor of a charter conversion for it to pass.

Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe says there was a huge show of support from the community at the Monday night meeting when commissioners voted to approve the financial letter of support.