Florida Education Law: Charter Schools, Private Schools, Colleges, and Educators

Hello, I’m Attorney Daniel Woodring, and I have been heavily engaged in education law and policy in Florida for more than 25 years. You can read more about me on the Attorney Information page. Since education law is a significant practice area for my firm, the Woodring Law Firm, we put together a website dedicated to Florida education law, where we can go into more detail than the firm’s main site does. Be sure to check out our blog for legal rulings and issues in Florida education law.

To talk with us about an education law matter anywhere in Florida, call us at 850-567-8445 or fill in the message form on this page.

What do we mean when we say education law? Many areas fall within it. To understand the scope of our practice, it helps to think about who we represent.

• We represent charter schools and charter management organizations (CMOs) in their dealings and disputes with sponsors and school districts, students, teachers, and the Florida and federal Departments of Education. This includes helping them apply for a charter, appeal a denial, negotiate charter contracts and leases, handle student and teacher issues and questions of board governance, and respond to compliance reviews and investigations, including investigations by the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
• Besides being hired for specific legal problems, we provide general counsel services to charter schools and CMOs, and private schools and higher education institutions.
• We represent private colleges and universities and private K-12 schools in regulatory and compliance matters with local, state, and federal governments and with bodies such as the Commission for Independent Education.
• We represent Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) providers in disputes over their eligibility to take part in the program.
• We represent vendors and education entities in procurement matters and bid protests before local school boards, state colleges and universities, and state agencies.
• We represent teachers and administrators who have professional licensing, discipline, or certification issues. We can provide representation before the school district and before the Education Practices Commission on matters relating to a teaching or administrator certificate.
• We represent college and university students, at public and private institutions, in disciplinary and academic matters, including suspension and expulsion.

What You Will Find on This Site

• Charter School Law, with separate pages on applications, contract negotiation, contract disputes and amendments, termination and non-renewal, and investigations and compliance
• School Choice Law – scholarship programs and the private schools that take part in them
• VPK – eligibility disputes for prekindergarten providers
• University & College – private institutions, students, and faculty
• Teacher and Administrator Certificates – complaints, discipline, and hearings
• Special Education Law – IDEA, Section 504, and due process hearings
• Procurements & Bid Protests – selling to school districts, colleges, and universities
• General Counsel Services, and Ethics, Public Records, and Government in the Sunshine Law
• FL Education Law Blog – rulings and commentary

The Woodring Law Firm

This site belongs to the Woodring Law Firm, which handles education matters in every part of Florida from its office in Tallahassee. Before I returned to private practice in 2007, I spent almost five years as the Department of Education’s General Counsel and was the Board of Governors’ first General Counsel. For the firm’s work outside education, including appeals, administrative law, and constitutional cases, please see the firm’s main site.

Talk to Us About an Education Matter

Deadlines in education matters are often short, so please do not wait if you are in doubt. You can call us at 850-567-8445, email us at Info@woodringlawfirm.com, or fill in the message form on this page.