School system declines $50,000 charter school grant

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Advocates for a proposed charter school to be called the STEM Inventors Academy suffered a setback this week when the Cobb County School District turned down a $50,000 planning grant.

Superintendent Michael Hinojosa sent state officials a letter dated Wednesday declining the federal Race to the Top money, which was awarded to a coalition led by the school system.

Cobb officials thought their partners wanted a conversion charter school, then learned the prevailing sentiment actually was for a start-up charter, district spokesman Jay Dillon said. The district, by law, cannot be involved in planning one of those, he said. None of the other coalition partners, including Kennesaw State University, stepped forward to accept the money.