Cheaper by the charter

Building Operating Management, Nov 1998

The City of Pembroke Pines, Fla., has made charter school history by building the first new charter school in the country.

Building from the ground up was less expensive under the city's process than it would have been under the school district's process, says Octavio Visiedo, vice president with Haskell Education Services, which has been contracted by the city to manage the school.

Pembroke Pines Mayor Alex Fekete says the city could build its school for $8,600 per student, while the district's cost at the time was about $13,000.

The city is able to build the schools cheaper because it has in its design-build plan eliminated some expensive overhead items, such as an elaborate cafeteria facility, Fekete says. The city has contracted out its food service, and as a result, the only facility needed to serve the food is a warming kitchen operated by a single person. The school is also able to piggyback onto the city's maintenance contract and procurement process. There were other savings in contracting out much of the technical work.

Visiedo says that the new schools also offer an advantage that other charter schools might not have: making sure all applicable codes and regulations for an educational faciLity are met. Other charter schools may be using existing buildings that were used for other purposes, which may present design problems. Those existing facilities work in the short term, but in the Long term any necessary renovation work can be expensive, Visiedo says.