SBAC agrees to pay $82,500 to Newberry Community School for legal fees
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
NEWBERRY, Fla. – The School Board of Alachua County has agreed to pay $82,500 to Newberry Community School for attorneys’ fees and other costs incurred in its response to the School Board’s appeal of a charter for the school.
On January 15, Newberry Community School (NCS) filed a petition with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH), asking DOAH to order the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) to pay $91,418.26 to NCS to cover the costs incurred in responding to the SBAC’s appeal of NCS’s charter.
On November 26, 2024, NCS submitted a charter school application to convert Newberry Elementary School to a charter school, and the Florida Charter Institute recommended approval of the application to the Charter School Review Commission (CSRC). On February 26, 2025, the CSRC unanimously approved the application during a public hearing. Although the school board is statutorily obligated to be the sponsor of and supervisor for a charter school approved by the CSRC, the SBAC appealed the decision to the State Board of Education (BOE), although a letter from the Florida Department of Education stated that the prevailing party would be able to seek reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
In its petition, NCS states that it had to employ “numerous attorneys, law clerks, and paralegals to individually analyze and respond to each of [the SBAC’s] 92 factual allegations” in the appeal, and this resulted in $91,418.26 in expenditures.
After a hearing on August 25, 2025, the Charter School Appeal Commission recommended that the BOE deny the SBAC’s appeal, and on September 24, 2025, the BOE voted to deny the appeal and approve the charter school application of Newberry Community School.
A January 21 order from Administrative Law Judge G.W. Chisenhall gave the SBAC 20 days to respond to NCS’s petition, but both parties requested an extension of the deadline, stating that they had a tentative agreement.
During its meeting on February 23, the Newberry Community School Board announced that SBAC has agreed to pay $82,500 to NCS.
How does SBAC get away with not paying the full amount? If we missed a penny in school-related property tax they’d be screaming.
Where can the “the SBAC’s] 92 factual allegations” in the appeal” be found?
Is it related to the state changing of the rules where a 50/50 tie is interpreted as a majority? That appalling ruling shows the lack of fairness we now expect from this administration.
The legislation does not say a majority vote was required. The legislation said 50% of eligible voters. That is a high bar. School board members are typically elected with much less of a percentage of eligible voters.
As an example to my other comment, Tina Certain only received 17% of the eligible votes in the last election.
Now do the governor and president and remember the GOP nationally and at the state leve are trying to disqualify millions of voters so they can win elections ( only 2 of the last 9 presidential popular votes).
Another $82,500 billed to the taxpayers of Alachua County.
Actually, if you assume ACPS spent a similar amount the money, the appeal cost taxpayers $165,000.
Great point – they hired outside counsel to represent them, so their expenses weren’t just staff expenses.
Cheap compared to what this will cost the county. Not challenging it would have been malpractice.
True. It’s not like the Superintendent is going to volunteer to forfeit three months of her salary.
Yet another example of SBAC dysfunction exemplified by two things that _didn’t_ happen. First, the attorney should have told them in that an appeal was a pointless waste of taxpayer money. Second, the board should have listened to the advice they are paying for.
1st part true in the Fascist State of Florida