Fulton charter schools denied by state, futures in question

A damning assessment from the state leaves the future of two high-performing north Fulton County charter schools in question. The State Charter Schools Commission this week denied petitions by Fulton Science Academy High School and Fulton Sunshine Academy elementary school, citing weaknesses with governance.

The schools, which serve more than800 students, plan to ask the Fulton school board to renew their charters. If it doesn't, they will no longer be able to operate as public schools when their charters expire at the end of this school year.

Fulton revoked the charter of a related middle school in 2012 and tried to revoke the high school’s charter but was overruled last year by the state board of education.

“We haven’t had a good history with those folks,” said Robert Avossa, the superintendent of Fulton schools. He said the schools “probably saw the writing on the wall” and tried to get charters through the new state commission, which was established by a state constitutional amendment in 2012.

In a statement to the commission, high school board chairwoman Maria Beug-Deeb, who has two children at the school, acknowledged a “rocky” relationship with Fulton but said “we have worked hard to mend those fences.” She said the decision to seek a state charter was “in lockstep” with Fulton.

Fulton shut down the middle school after an audit raised questions about finances and management. The district criticized the school’s board for borrowing $18.9 million for construction without knowing whether the charter would be extended. The bonds, issued by the Alpharetta Development Authority, subsequently went into default. School officials have challenged the accuracy of many of the audit’s findings.

The middle school closed in July 2012 and reopened as the Fulton Science Academy Private School, serving students as young as pre-kindergarten. In its last year as a public school it scored well on some state tests. All of the eighth-graders met or exceeded the standard in reading, English/language arts and social studies on the 2012 Criterion Referenced Competency Tests. In 2011, it was named by the U.S. Department of Education as a national Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.

All fifth-graders at the elementary school also met or exceeded standards on state tests in 2012, and last school year all fifth-graders passed reading and 99 percent passed math. The high school’s graduation rate of 88 percent and College and Career Ready Performance Index score are both higher than Fulton County’s overall high school results.

The commission's vote Wednesday to deny the charter petitions was based on recommendations from the commission staff, which said the elementary school administration and governing board "failed to adequately address how the school would operate" and the high school's governing board had "consistent problems" in its oversight of school administration.

One of the problems Fulton had cited when it tried to revoke the high school’s charter was low enrollment. Fulton also alleged that the public school required seniors to pay for online courses needed for graduation, but the school has denied that.

The school, which auditors found had some connections to supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a prominent Turkish imam, had been unable reach the enrollment goal of 350 promised in its charter application nearly a decade ago, Fulton officials said at the time.

School officials have denied a relationship with Gulen. Nationally, some charter schools with ties to the Gulen education movement have faced criticism for contracts with businesses and groups tied to the movement and money spent to bring in teachers and other workers from Turkey.

The Fulton high school has 280 students, including 125 ninth-graders, and the elementary school 564, according to David Rubinger, a spokesman for both schools.

Ken Zeff, the Fulton administrator who oversees charter schools, said the district had “a thick body of evidence” on the high school, but would still be a neutral judge of any petition renewal.

Petitions are due in September and would be up for a Fulton school board vote in November.

Although the district did not attempt to revoke the elementary school’s charter, Avossa said, “The governance structures in general for all three schools were concerning to me, and are still concerning to me.”

Metin Oguzmert, chairman of the elementary school’s board and the parent of a second-grader at the school, said the board has worked to improve in response to Fulton’s recommendations. He said he was optimistic the district would renew its charter because of its academic record.