Financial problems lead to closure of charter schools run by company Warren chairs

Four Jacksonville charter schools run by a company chaired by Cleve Warren will close on December 21 due to financial problems caused, in part, by inadequate enrollment.

Warren and other members of the Profectus Learning Systems Board of Directors, which operates the schools, announced on December 1 that they had “made the unanimous decision to surrender the schools’ charters.”

“Ultimately, it would not have been in our families’ and students’ best interests to continue operating our schools at a significant financial deficit,” Warren said.

Last month, the Florida Times-Union reported that Duval County Public Schools was considering terminating the charter of the schools due to their dire financial condition. Warren admitted that one of the problems was that “our head count wasn’t what we expected it to be.”

According to the newspaper, the expenses of the schools “exceeded revenues by $186,752” in 2015. It added that: “This fiscal year, in September the schools racked up another $333,000 in such deficit spending…Both middle schools received D’s on state report cards and the high schools received F’s.”

Warren is a co-founder of the schools. He served on the FAMU Board of Trustees from 2012 to 2016 and was its chairman when the Florida Board of Governors declined to reappoint him.