How Do I Start a Charter School?

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How to Start a Charter School

Charter schools offer unique educational opportunities for Georgia’s children. Find out how your community can explore opening a charter school.

1. Assess community interest & Evaluate community need

Start by engaging in conversations about charter schools and different public school options with parents, families, educators, students, and other community stakeholders.

Organizations like the State Charter Schools Foundation of Georgia, GeorgiaCAN, and the Georgia Charter Schools Association can offer informational sessions. Email info@findagacharter.org to request an info session.
What are the educational needs of the community? How might a charter school close any gaps? Start by creating a “wish list” to meet the needs of your community.
Who can help support a charter school? Think about local businesses, faith communities, families, lawmakers, and others.

2. Develop a school model

Take the feedback from the members of your community to develop an educational model for a new charter school.

What educational approaches would meet the needs of the community? Ex. STEM or STEAM focus, project-based learning, language immersion, industry interaction.
Do you have one or more experienced educators to guide the process and possibly serve as a school founder or original leader?
Which neighborhoods would the school serve? Charter schools often serve larger attendance areas than traditional public schools.
Organizations like BES and the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition offer fellowships for developing a school model.

3. Form a nonprofit organization with a volunteer board of directors

In Georgia, charter schools are nonprofit organizations governed by an independent board. Gather committed community stakeholders together into a board of directors and form a nonprofit organization.

The Georgia Center for Nonprofits offers support for forming a nonprofit.

4. Prepare a charter petition

Take your plan and create a charter petition to submit to a charter school authorizer. A charter petition is the proposed school’s operational and academic blueprint.

Charter schools can be authorized by any local school board in Georgia or the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia.
Georgia Charter Schools Association’s Incubator program can help you develop a petition and prepare for the petition process.
Attend informational sessions and events to learn about the petition process, understand evaluation criteria, and strengthen your petition.

5. Submit the charter petition

Review the charter petition submission process for the local board of education and State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia. If approved, the authorizer will enter into a charter contract with the organization. The State Board of Education will have the final approval of any charter school contracts.

Support organizations

BES
Diverse Charter Schools Coalition
GeorgiaCAN
Georgia Charter Schools Association
redefinEd atlanta (serves the metro-Atlanta area)
State Charter Schools Foundation of Georgia

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