Brighten Academy Charter School in Douglasville has been named charter school of the year by the Georgia Charter Schools Association.

The award, given to schools that demonstrate academic excellence and sound fiscal practices, comes with a $50,000 grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation.

Brighten Academy plans to use the grant to build a mobile video conferencing unit for worldwide video collaboration and to buy curriculum materials, science lab equipment, maps and cork boards.

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Uta Thomas picks up her son, Jax, during a public hearing in Atlanta on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. She implored the school board not to close Dunbar Elementary. 
"You would centralize education to decentralized families," she said. "You would break apart a community hub." (Abbey Cutrer / AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

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Passengers wait at a Delta check-in counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. It was the first day the Federal Aviation Administration cut flight capacity at airports during the government shutdown. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com