Charter school startups in Georgia got a boost Tuesday as Gov. Sonny Perdue signed three bills extending school choice options and offering better benefits for teachers in those publicly-funded schools.

One of the bills — HB 881 — creates a second way charter schools can be created if applicants are rejected by local school boards. A newly formed state charter commission can approve a charter school start up if applicants have been first rejected by their local school boards.

Under the new law, local tax dollars as well as state funding would follow pupils to charter schools created by the commission, a feature of the bill that's controversial with some local districts. "What a lot of districts were saying is that it's not fair to take our local money if we deny the petitions," Andrew Broy, state associate superintendent of policy and charater schools, said Tuesday.

Currently, local school tax dollars don't follow students from public school systems to charters if the state Board of Education overturns a local district decision and goes ahead and approves a charter schooloriginally rejected by local school systems.

Broy said in an interview that he doesn't forsee the new legislation as "opening the floodgates. It's a way can can allow great schools to come into being. We hope the commission will take a very selective approach to what schools they authorize."

The bill also mandates some funding changes, among them allowing local school systems to withhold up to three percent the amount of state and local dollars from charter schools for central office administrative costs.

Bill sponsor Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta ) said the legislation "will lead to a great variety of smaller, specialized or innovative public schools that will be held in high achievement standards," in a press release issued by the governor's office.

Two other bills approved by Perdue also bolster infrastructure support for public charter schools. HB 831 allows the state Board of Education to provide matching funds to charter school organizations for capital improvements or construction of charter schools through a grant program. HB 1277 provides charter school teachers and other personnel access to the State Health Benefit Plan. Perdue underscored that charter school personnel are not to be considered state employees.

Signed into law earlier this month was a fourth piece of charter-friendly legislation authorizing local charter schools and state-chartered schools to use their Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds for capital projects.

Perdue said the legislative pieces "clearly empower Georgia's parents and local communities to develop and sustain innovative school choice options. . ."