How Charter Schools Fleece Taxpayers
An example from Florida
Accountabaloney reports from Florida that a major charter school operator - already rich from tax-exempt real estate - is seeking MORE taxpayer subsidies, this time in the form of school vouchers.
Academica is Florida’s largest (and arguably most politically connected) corporate charter school network. Over the years, the company has amassed a substantial real estate empire funded through public education dollars.
A 2011 Miami Herald investigation, “Academica: Florida’s richest charter school management firm,” revealed that the Zulueta brothers — real estate developers who built their first charter school in 1997 — controlled more than $115 million in South Florida real estate through dozens of affiliated companies. Much of that property was exempt from taxes as “public schools” while simultaneously generating rental income from charter schools managed by Academica.
And that was in 2011.
At the time, Academica managed roughly 100–120 charter schools. Today, the organization reports more than 200 affiliated schools and institutions, while South Florida real estate values have roughly doubled — or more — since that earlier reporting.
Now, Academica appears poised to enter another publicly funded education market: school vouchers.
According to reporting, AltaVia expects to distribute approximately $178 million in scholarships annually by its third year of operation. Scholarship Funding Organizations are permitted to retain up to 3% for administrative costs.
More from Solochek:
“AltaVia was formed as a nonprofit in 2024 with the mission to “expand K-12 educational opportunity for low- and moderate-income families by pairing need-based scholarships.
The registered agent of the nonprofit is listed on LinkedIn as corporate counsel at Academica, a company that runs public charter schools through networks including Somerset and Mater Academy.