A rising economy doesn’t float every boat. Just ask the leaders of the now-dead attempt to establish a Marietta Dual Language Academy.
Things were looking good last year, when they obtained a school charter from Marietta City Schools and the state school board. But the proposed Spanish-language-immersion charter school fell victim to rising real estate prices and a lack of funding.
Its leaders surrendered to harsh market realities Thursday, asking the Georgia board of education to terminate the charter. The state board agreed.
Charter schools get public money and freedom from many rules but must meet academic, financial and operational goals in their contracts. They often struggle finding a financial footing and a place to call home.
The hopeful leaders of the elementary charter school told officials that the real estate market had heated up so much since they got the idea for the English-Spanish immersion curriculum that they couldn't afford a site for a building. Previously, target parcels were "well within financial reach as property values were depressed," they wrote to Marietta City Schools in July.
The subsequent development of soccer fields on Franklin Gateway Road boosted real estate prices “to an unattainable level,” the Academy leaders wrote. They said they also were unable to secure long-term donor commitments. They encouraged the Marietta schools to develop their dream of a language immersion program.
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