Ryder Joins Charter School Movement

Ryder System is going the extra mile for its employees by establishing a public school for their children right across the street from its headquarters in Miami.

When the doors open Aug. 30, the transportation and logistics provider will become the first corporation in the country to have a charter school near the workplace. It will cater to 300 children in kindergarten through third grade, with plans to expand the enrollment to 500 by adding fourth and fifth grades in the third year of operation.

The Ryder Elementary Charter School is open to all, but employees’ children get preference in admission. Company officials hope their investment to have a top-notch learning facility nearby will allow parents to keep closer tabs on their children’s education and relieve them of some worries.

Charter Schools USA of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., helped Ryder develop the school. The company also will manage the school, its fourth such operation in Florida.

Ryder is joining a national trend of establishing charter schools that are operated with public funding by private groups, such as those comprised of parents and teachers (8-16, p. 2). Since 1991, the number of such schools has doubled every year, with 35 states and the District of Columbia having laws allowing them.

The private groups run the charter schools instead of local school boards, and funding comes from taxes collected for the public school districts. Charter schools are held accountable for their students’ academic performance. In return, they are not subject to many of the regulations and mandates that govern public schools and so have the flexibility to experiment with nontraditional educational models.

For the full story, see the August 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.