Charter School Snapshot
By Rebecca Burns
Startup Charter
A school that is launched from scratch, with the approval of a local school board or the state commission. Examples are Globe Academy in DeKalb County, where half the classes are in English and the other half are in French, Spanish, or Mandarin; and Amana Academy in North Fulton, which emphasizes public service and offers Arabic instruction at every grade level.
Conversion Charter
Public school that is converted to a charter. This year, Centennial Place Elementary in the Atlanta Public Schools system became Centennial Academy. It’s now the official “lab school” of Georgia Tech, a partnership that will place Tech teaching students in classrooms and use Tech profs as experts.
State Charter Commission School
A school approved by the state commission after being denied by the local school board. Currently, there are 26 state charter commission schools in Georgia, including Utopian Academy for the Arts and Pataula Charter Academy in Edison, which serves five rural counties.
