ATLANTA — Parents who fought to keep Spalding Drive Elementary School open have secured approval to open a new public charter school, giving families another education option in metro Atlanta beginning in the 2027-2028 school year.
The Georgia State Charter Schools Commission voted Wednesday to approve Spalding Academy for Innovation and Learning, one of four new charter schools approved across the state.
The approval comes more than a year after Fulton County Schools closed Spalding Drive Elementary at the end of the 2024-2025 school year, citing declining enrollment and concerns about the building’s condition despite months of opposition from parents.
For many parents, the decision marked the end of an emotional yearlong effort.
“I was tearing up,” said Raymond Grote, board chair for Spalding Academy for Innovation and Learning.
Grote said parents have been working to restore what they believe the community lost when the neighborhood school closed.
“The driving force has been bringing back to our community what was lost,” Grote said.
He said many families were deeply affected by the closure.
“Most of the children that we see every day still in the neighborhood were extremely negatively impacted from a mental health standpoint,” Grote said.
After the closure, a group of former Spalding Drive parents spent the past school year planning and petitioning to create a charter school. Grote said the group initially sought approval through Fulton County Schools before taking its proposal to the state.
“We got denied by Fulton County. You go to the state charter,” Grote said.
The new school will be a public charter school with a proposed kindergarten through eighth-grade model, which organizers say is not currently available nearby.
“We thought a K-8 model, which is not offered anywhere near us, would be very beneficial to the children,” Grote said.
If all planning moves forward, the school will be located in Sandy Springs. Students would be selected through a lottery system and could come from Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb counties.
Grote told Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers funding and resources for the school will come through the state.
“It effectively is part of the state budget,” he said.
He also said parents wanted greater involvement in shaping their children’s education.
“We really felt like we didn’t have control over the education of our children,” Grote said.
While state approval is a significant milestone, organizers say the work is just beginning as they prepare to open the school in fall 2027.
“This is frankly the part that excites me — building something,” Grote said.
School leaders have not announced a permanent location, but Grote told Rogers they are conducting due diligence on a potential property about six minutes from the former Spalding Drive Elementary campus. He said interest in the new school has already been strong.
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