ATLANTA,None — Fulton County School officials announced they are prepared to get community input on their plan to turn the district into the state's largest charter system.
Fulton County Considers Moving To Charter School System
Every school district in Georgia must decide by June 2013 how they want to operate. They can keep things status quo, they can switch over to an IE-squared system like Gwinnett County, or they could decide to become a charter system. The charter option is what Fulton County has been exploring.
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Under Gwinnett's system, the county retains control over the schools. The charter system gives local schools most of the control.
Dr. Cindy Loe told Channel 2's Richard Elliot that if approved, Fulton County would create a charter or contract with the state Board of Education agreeing to meet or exceed state and federal accountability standards. In return, Fulton County could get waivers from certain state laws such as limitations on class size.
Fulton County's plan would create a system of governance boards for each local school or school cluster. Each school's board could have the freedom to make certain decisions for its local school such as class sizes, finances and classes offered. The ultimate decision and authority would still rest with the elected school board members.
"If you show you can handle it, you get more and more empowerment over the local decisions at your school," said Loe. "If you're struggling, you're going to be more specific about you're accountability."
Loe said under a charter system, a local school could increase class sizes, then use the savings to hire additional staff.
The school board would decide how much responsibility it would allow each governance board to have depending on accountability and achievement.
Loe doesn't believe the switch would affect state funding in any way, though the district could qualify for some additional grant money to aid in the transition.
Existing conversion charter schools would be given the option to remain independent or join the system. Start-up charter schools, however, would have to remain independent.
School officials want input from parents, teachers and staff during a series of community forums.
The dates and locations are listed below, check with Fulton County Schools for the times. Oct. 18 Johns Creek High School Oct. 19 Westlake High School Oct. 27 Roswell High School Nov. 3 Independence High School Nov. 4 Creekside High School Nov. 10 Tri-Cities High School Nov. 11 Riverwood High School
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