School Board to Pay $82,500 to Newberry Community School

NEWBERRY – The School Board of Alachua County has agreed to pay $82,500 to Newberry Community School to cover attorneys’ fees and related costs incurred during the board’s unsuccessful appeal of the school’s charter approval.

The payment follows months of administrative proceedings stemming from the district’s challenge to the conversion of Newberry Elementary School into a charter school.

On Jan. 15, Newberry Community School filed a petition with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings seeking an order requiring the School Board of Alachua County to pay $91,418 in legal expenses. The petition argued that the costs were incurred as a direct result of the district’s appeal of the charter approval.

Newberry Community School submitted its charter application on Nov. 26, 2024, seeking to convert Newberry Elementary School to charter status. The Florida Charter Institute reviewed the application and recommended approval to the Charter School Review Commission.

On Feb. 26, 2025, the Charter School Review Commission unanimously approved the application during a public hearing.

Under Florida law, when the Charter School Review Commission approves a charter school application, the local school district is statutorily obligated to serve as the sponsor and supervisor of the school. Despite that obligation, the School Board of Alachua County appealed the commission’s decision to the State Board of Education.

A letter from the Florida Department of Education indicated that the prevailing party in such an appeal would be able to seek reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

In its petition to the Division of Administrative Hearings, Newberry Community School stated 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” raised in the appeal. According to the filing, those efforts resulted in $91,418 in expenditures.

Following a hearing on Aug. 25, 2025, the Charter School Appeal Commission recommended that the State Board of Education deny the district’s appeal. On Sept. 24, 2025, the State Board voted to deny the appeal and approve Newberry Community School’s charter application.

The administrative case then shifted to the question of attorneys’ fees.

On Jan. 21, 2026, Administrative Law Judge G.W. Chisenhall issued an order giving the School Board of Alachua County 20 days to respond to Newberry Community School’s petition seeking reimbursement.

However, both parties subsequently requested an extension of the response deadline, informing the court that they had reached a tentative agreement.

During its meeting on Feb. 23, 2026, the Newberry Community School Board announced that the School Board of Alachua County had agreed to pay $82,500 to resolve the matter.

The agreed-upon amount is $8,918 less than the $91,418 originally sought in the petition.

The payment brings to a close the administrative proceedings related to the district’s appeal of the charter approval and the subsequent claim for reimbursement of legal costs.

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