Fulton school district receives award for charter system
SEPTEMBER 5, 2014 JOHNS CREEK Cherell Lawson teaches sports medicine techniques during a class at Northview High School in Johns Creek, Friday, September 5, 2014. Lawson is an athletic trainer with Emory Healthcare at Johns Creek and was hired this year part-time to teach health sciences at Northview High School despite her lack of a teaching credential. Fulton County Schools would not have been able to employ her without a personnel waiver that came with their charter district status. Georgia school districts must decide soon whether they will push more authority down to the school level or face potential financial sanctions. The state mandate to consider choosing either a charter form of management the status quo or something in between called “IE2” is driven by the notion that more local control will improve outcomes. Districts that choose the status quo will lose all sorts of waivers, many, such as exemptions from class size limits and minimum number of school days, can save money in tight times. But details matter: how much local control do either charter or IE2 allow, and does it matter? We can look to several metro Atlanta districts — Gwinnett, Fulton, Decatur and Marietta — that have already reorganized under one of these new formats to see whether it’s made any difference. Atlanta, DeKalb and Cobb will be voting in coming months on staff recommendations — for charter district in Atlanta and DeKalb and for IE2 in Cobb. KENT D. JOHNSON / KDJOHNSON@AJC.COM
Fulton County’s school district has received an award for being the highest-performing charter system in Georgia.
Fulton was one of 11 charter systems nominated, and it received the award as Georgia Realtors’ Charter System of the Year. The school system will receive $10,000 as part of the award.
Lt. Governor Casey Cagle on Wednesday hosted the first annual Georgia Charter System Foundation Award luncheon in Dunwoody, where the award was given.
“Fulton County Schools is a great example of the success that comes from a charter system,” said Cagle in a released statement. “Innovative charter systems are an important tool to provide access to a world class learning environment and I appreciate Fulton County Schools’ diligent work to improve education in the community.”
Charter systems are an education model created in 2007 with state lawmakers’ passage of the Charter System Act. It allows public school systems freedom from many state mandates in exchange for meeting certain education goals.
From the largest, Fulton County, to the smallest and most rural, Warren County, there are 31 approved charter systems in Georgia.
