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Charter school protection bill becomes law

By Ty Tagami
April 22, 2015

Gov. Nathan Deal has signed legislation designed to protect state-authorized charter schools from local officials.

House Bill 372, also known as the Utopian Academy for the Arts Act, is named after a Clayton County charter school that opened late last fall. Officials in Riverdale required a license to operate, and the academy couldn’t get one because disputes involving the school’s lease held up a prerequisite inspection.

Yet state agencies had inspected the school and authorized its opening. The new law allows state charter schools to open with the necessary state approvals.

“This bill will protect state charter schools from local officials who seek to obstruct the opening” of those schools, Deal said when signing the bill into law Tuesday.

About the Author

Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.

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