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School choice advocates celebrate passage of constitutional amendment at rally
02/01/2013
Braving stiff winds and bracing 34-degree temperatures at the state Capitol, school choice advocates celebrated the passage of the charter schools constitutional amendment during a rally Thursday morning. The rally, which drew an estimated crowd of 1,100 students...
State Charter Schools Commission gets new members
01/18/2013
The State Board of Education appointed seven State Charter Schools Commission members on Thursday according to a press release issued by the Georgia Department of Education. In 2012, the General Assembly passed HB 797, the State Charter Schools Act, which creates a seven-member state level Commission that has the power to authorize charter schools.
Charter school amendment glides to victory
11/06/2012
by Maureen Downey In a 58 to 42 percent vote, Georgians adopted a constitutional amendment tonight that will put the state back in the business of approving charter schools over the objections of local boards of education.
School chief's stand on charters debated
08/15/2012
Georgia Schools Superintendent John Barge's opposition to the charter schools constitutional amendment has angered fellow Republicans even as it has energized opponents of the proposed amendment. Gov. Nathan Deal, who met with Barge Tuesday before the superintendent announced his opposition, said Barge has gone back on a campaign pledge.
Governor Deal signs charter school bill
05/03/2012
Governor Deal signed legislation that focuses on charter schools on Thursday. The measure restores the state's power to approve charter schools assuming voters approve a constitutional amendment this fall.
Senate passes charter schools amendment resolution
03/19/2012
The full-court press legislators endured during the charter schools battle in the General Assembly now moves to voters, who this fall will get their chance to determine how much authority the state should have to approve and fund charter schools. Expect to hear about charter schools on television. Expect to hear about them on radio. And there probably will be fliers, too.
Georgia boy, 12, paid to fight zombies
03/08/2012
Most 12-year-olds only get to battle zombies in video games, but Chandler Riggs gets to fight them for a living. Chandler, the son of William and Gina Ann Riggs of Towne Lake, plays Carl Grimes, who flees his small town with his mom, Lori, to escape the zombie apocalypse in the AMC show ?The Walking Dead.? Chandler is also a GCA student.
Charter School Bill Crosses Party Lines
02/27/2012
State lawmakers passed a bill last week that would let Georgians decide whether the state should approve charter schools. It now heads to the Senate where support is mixed. But the GOP-backed measure had rare bi-partisan backing in the House. If the bill receives a green light from both the Senate and the majority of Georgians, it would allow the state and local school boards to approve charter school applications.
Georgia House passes charter school bill
02/22/2012
The second time was the charm for charter school backers Wednesday. Georgia's House of Representatives passed charter schools legislation that would, if later approved by the Senate, send to voters a proposed constitutional amendment on whether states should have more authority to create charter schools. Wednesday's vote, 123-48, surpassed the two-thirds majority needed on legislation that would put a referendum before voters, and it came two weeks after charter schools backers in the House fell 10 votes short of the needed two-thirds majority.
Charter school amendment to wait for more debate
02/09/2012
The state House of Representatives will let a proposed charter school constitutional amendment rest until at least next week. It voted 114-49 Thursday to reconsider the amendment, which did not gain a necessary two-thirds majority vote Wednesday. That means it will be up to the House Rules Committee to send it back to the floor, where Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, can call for another debate. Legislators ended the session Thursday and will take a long weekend, returning to work Wednesday.
House rejects amendment on charter schools
02/08/2012
After intense lobbying and lively floor debate, state House members on Wednesday narrowly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would restore the state's power to approve charter schools. The amendment's sponsors immediately announced plans to ask the House on Thursday to reconsider the 110-62 vote, which was 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority required. "We are not done by any stretch," said Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, R-Milton, the amendment's chief sponsor.
Vote gives OK to constitutional amendment helping charter schools
02/02/2012
Charter school supporters claimed a first-round victory late Thursday in their fight to override last year's Georgia Supreme Court ruling, declaring that the state cannot approve and fund charter schools over local school board objections.
Charter amendment could see first vote Thursday; lobbying intensifies
02/01/2012
The lobbying intensified Tuesday over a proposed constitutional amendment that could re-establish the state's power to approve and fund charter schools over the objections of local school systems. If approved, the amendment, which local school boards and superintendents vehemently oppose, would override a state Supreme Court ruling from last May.
Going to a virtual charter school
09/25/2011
ATLANTA - Seventh grader David Tanner is off to a new school year. But he's not in a traditional classroom. He attends Georgia Cyber Academy, a statewide public virtual charter school.
State school board rescues 11 charter schools
06/28/2011
Eleven charter schools whose operating agreements were voided by a state Supreme Court ruling got the final approval they needed Tuesday to serve more than 15,000 students in the fall.
State committee recommends approval for some charter schools in limbo
06/27/2011
More than 15,000 Georgia students are expected to be able to attend their chosen charter school this fall, ending more than a month of uncertainty about whether those schools would have the funding and legal clearance to open.
The brewing of a bruising fight over charter schools
06/25/2011
For the last couple years, the focus has been on transportation as the public policy issue likely to dominate the 2012 political season.
Gov. Deal and U.S. Education Secretary Discuss Charter School Ruling
06/22/2011
Georgia's Governor and the U.S. Secretary of Education weighed in Wednesday on how to aid a number of charter schools affected by a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision. The court declared 16 charter schools created by a state commission unconstitutional.
Georgia plays host to charter school forum
06/20/2011
Nikhil Lakhanpal, an inaugural student and graduate of Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, was part of a charter school experiment that catered to his interests in those nameplate subjects, and ultimately convinced him his future wasn't in any of them.
Deal vows to help save state-approved charter schools
06/17/2011
Gov. Nathan Deal says he'll work with the General Assembly to bypass a recent court ruling outlawing state-approved charter schools.
An online charter school travels south Georgia in search of rejection
06/17/2011
I spoke this week with Monica Henson, head of Provost Academy Georgia, a virtual public charter high school that ls due to open in the fall with at least 400 students from around the state.
Georgia Charter Schools Case Might Be Headed Back to Supreme Court
05/19/2011
We should know very soon whether the Georgia Supreme Court will be asked to reconsider its historic charter schools commission decision, even though one source said the likelihood that the Court would reverse itself is "an astronomical possibility," as in, place really low bets.