The Georgia Board of Education will vote today to deny a charter to Fulton Science Academy Middle School, a decision that could shut the Alpharetta campus that educates 500 students and has 58 employees.
The state's charter school division recommended that FSA be denied a charter due to concerns over its management and financial stability. In 2011, the school became Georgia's first charter campus to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for standardized test achievement.
Members of the Georgia Charter Schools Committee Wednesday had mixed emotions about moving forward with the rejection of the charter application of the high-performing school. But they decided not to delay the vote until June to give Fulton County parents at FSA more time to make alternative plans for the fall.
FSA came to the charter application process in debt.
The school entered into a $19 million loan agreement to build a shared campus with Fulton Sunshine Academy and Fulton Science Academy High School, also charter schools, before its charter contract could be renewed by Fulton County Schools. FSA sought revenue bonds through the Alpharetta Development Authority to build a new campus and then began construction without following state protocol for site approval.
It's application was rejected by Fulton County school district in December because FSA wouldn't agree to a shorter contract term.
“I don’t think that I can condone the steps that your board and your leadership made,” said Linda Zechmann, a charter committee member. “My heart is broken for the children.”
State officials have also said they aren't sure who is in charge at FSA -- the school's executive director or the governing board. According to state law, governing boards at charter schools must be autonomous.
FSA parents and school leaders attended the meeting urging the committee to give them more time to make things right.
"We are committed to addressing prior actions and avoiding future issues,” said Andrea Lasseter, a member of FSA's governing board. “FSA has provided families with an educational choice and improved student achievement. Knowing that there was a very real possibility that we would be denied, we would have never gone forward with the campus. We had the community behind us.”
In other news, the state charter school's committee recommended approval for Madison County Schools to become a state charter system, and heard information of a heard a staff recommendation of approval for Ivy Preparatory Academy to become a state charter special school in Gwinnett next academic year.
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