Charter Schools get boost from new laws

Governor Sonny Perdue signed three pieces of legislation into law to expand support for choice options within public schools: HB 881, 831, and 1277.

Jan Jones and known as the charter commission legislation, requires charter school petitioners to continue to seek approval from their local board of education. It also lets parents request charter approval directly from a newly-formed state charter commission if the local board of education rejects the petition, or if the petitioner seeks conditions different from those approved by the local board of education. In addition, HB 881 changes the way charter schools are funded. Many previously-approved charter schools operate on fewer dollars than traditional public schools receive.

House Bills 831 and 1277 build further on the infrastructure support for public charter schools. HB 831 enables the State Board of Education to establish a grant program to provide matching funds to charter school organizations for capital improvements or construction of charter schools, while HB 1277 provides charter school personnel access to the State Health Benefit Plan.

Another piece of charter legislation, HB 1065, was signed into law by Governor Perdue earlier this month and authorizes local charter schools and state chartered special schools to use their SPLOST funds for capital outlay projects.