Cherokee calls for charter school application

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Cherokee County School District sent a letter Monday to a foundation trying to get a charter school approved, asking for a revised petition that addresses shortcomings the school board noted when it denied the school's application last year.

Lyn Carden, a parent working to help found the school, Cherokee Charter Academy, said the group is working feverishly to revise its petition and address the previous concerns.

"We got the letter this morning and are busy trying to fulfill those requests," Carden said.

She said she could not estimate when the revised petition would be ready.

The group petitioned the board in June for a charter school but was denied. Issues of concern to the Cherokee school board included the level of control given to Charter Schools USA, a Florida company helping the academy set up and operate, and what appeared to be excessive costs for a facility in the school's budget.

Charter schools are public schools, but charter school committees maintain more control over curriculum, finances and governance. Charter school money comes from state and federal education dollars, and local money follows the students from other schools to a charter school.

Cherokee Charter Academy held a lottery and chose more than 900 students two days before a state Supreme Court ruling last week blocked the school's opening. The justices said that only local boards, not a state agency, could grant charters to schools. Cherokee Charter Academy and 15 other charter schools in the state were approved by the Georgia Charter Schools Commission.

The Cherokee school board, which has three new members on it, discussed Thursday its desires for the academy to get in a revised petition. The board is facing a tight schedule. The school system must study the charter school proposal and make a recommendation for approval or denial in time for the August opening.