The State Charter Schools Commission has approved applications for five charter schools to open for the 2017-18 school year, including three in metro Atlanta.
Genesis Academy will open a school for boys and another one for girls, both in the city of Atlanta. The schools will serve students from kindergarten through the tenth grade with an emphasis on teaching science, technology, engineering and math.
Resurgence Hall, which will be located in the Sandy Springs area, will serve students from kindergarten through the eighth-grade and specialize in computer science, design-thinking and literacy.
The two other approved charter schools are DREAM Academy in Bibb County and the School for Arts-Infused Learning (SAIL), which will be located in Columbia or Richmond County.
More Atlanta students are enrolling in local charter schools, even as fewer are picking traditional public schools, district officials have said.
The Atlanta school district has one of the highest rates of charter school enrollment in the state—and the highest in metro Atlanta, according to Georgia Department of Education data.
The commission received 22 charter schools petitions in the 2016 cycle – the largest number ever received in a cycle. Five petitions were ineligible for review due to legal compliance issues, 11 withdrew to further develop their plans and one petition was approved by a local school district.
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