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- Roughly 1 in 26 Georgia students enrolled in charter schools in spring 2021.
- Less money spent per student in local charter schools than nearby schools.
- Limited funds to open new state charter schools.
Georgia’s state-funded charter schools are free and open to all students, but many miss out on local tax dollars that benefit students in traditional K-12 public schools.
More than 67,000 students enrolled in charter schools in the spring of 2021, totaling roughly 1 in 26 students out of the state’s total 1.7 million student population, according to state data. Most charter schools have less money to spend per student than traditional schools in their surrounding districts or compared to the state average, state Department of Education data shows.
Charter advocates say funding disparities make it tough for many charter schools to boost student academic progress compared to nearby schools, which is a vital part of the agreements that allow them to exist.

There are many kinds of charter schools in Georgia, each operating based on their agreements with state or local school districts.
Charter schools face tighter academic scrutiny in return for relaxed rules on what courses to teach, student schedules and teacher qualifications. They can also set up independent governing boards or advisory councils, unlike traditional public schools that take orders from local officials who oversee all schools in a given district.
Like traditional public schools, charter schools in Georgia receive state funding based on how many students they enroll each year. They can also qualify for certain federal grants in special education and for school improvement.
Charters and traditional public schools differ when it comes to how much each gets in revenues from local taxes. State law gives traditional K-12 schools a share of local property and education-earmarked taxes. Charter schools are not legally entitled to receive local tax dollars, leaving it up to district officials whether to share their local taxes or not.
Charter-school advocates estimate most charter schools on average have access to 25% less funding than traditional public schools in Georgia.
More than half of the roughly 50 charter schools that have agreements with local districts saw less spending on each student than other schools in their same districts in 2019, according to state data.
Even fewer locally run charter schools matched the student spending of nearby schools in 2018 and 2017. Less than one-third of charters spent more per student than their districtwide averages in 2018, while roughly one-fourth did so in 2017, state data shows.
That disparity holds true for charter schools in Atlanta Public Schools, which as a district has one of the highest per-student spending averages in the state. In 2019, 11 out of Atlanta’s 18 charter schools spent less per student than the district average.
Another batch of charter schools that contract directly with the state also saw less per-student spending during those years than the state average – even as the number of charters under state oversight grew from 24 in 2017 to 32 in 2019. Each of those years saw less than 25% of state-run charter schools match or exceed the state average for how much schools spent on each student, according to state data.
Those funding shortfalls came as state lawmakers moved in 2018 to hike charter schools’ share of state funds to offset the lack of local tax dollars. Legislation signed into law that year set up charter schools to receive an extra roughly $42 million in 2019 and $46 million in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted officials to slash school spending across Georgia.
Charter-school advocates view money spats between some schools and their local districts as a major reason for a slowdown in the number of new charter schools opening in recent years.
Scuffles have even broken out between some charter schools and local districts over the tax dollars. Seven charter schools in DeKalb County even sued their local district over funding issues in 2020.
Tony Roberts, the president and CEO of the nonprofit Georgia Charter School Association, said he’s worried that local districts may ramp up efforts to take away funding and services like buses from their charter schools to bolster budgets for traditional public schools.
“It really is a way of putting a squeeze on the charter schools,” Roberts said in a recent interview. “That way it’s off your budget and it’s hunky-dory then.”
As a result, he and other advocates anticipate more charter schools to open under state oversight through Georgia’s State Charter Schools Commission. That agency has the authority to approve petitions for new state charter schools or shut schools down for poor performance.
Like other state agencies, the charter-school commission has a tight budget that limits its ability to open new schools or allow locally-run charters to switch over to state oversight, according to state officials. The commission has approved state charters for many new schools over the last few years while also turning down petitions for several other hopefuls. Georgia has around $27 million this year to divvy up for authorizing charter schools and systems across the state, according to budget figures.
Money constraints are only part of the equation for opening new charter schools, said the commission’s chair, Buzz Brockway. New schools also have to show proof they can stand the test of time and not be closed due to financial issues or low academic performance, he said.
“There’s a finite amount of time and we don’t want to experiment because a couple years of lousy education in a child’s life is devastating,” said Brockway, a former state lawmaker from Gwinnett County.
“We can’t just hand these charters to everybody," he added. "I’d much rather be accused of being tight-fisted than opening up a lot of schools that don’t do a good job.”
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Georgia lawmakers push for repeal of law determining where medical facilities are built
A study committee of Georgia senators took a decisive step Tuesday toward ending a longstanding and contentious law that regulates how and where new medical facilities are located in the state.
The committee’s decision centers on the 44-year-old Certificate of Need law. It was created to control health care costs and cut down on duplication of services and unnecessary expansions. It determines when, where and if hospitals need to be built. Opponents have said the law prevents competition and enables big hospitals to have a monopoly, often shutting out small and private medical outlets.
On Tuesday, the Senate Study Committee on Certificate of Need Reform effectively said the law needs to be repealed. The committee approved, in a 6-2 vote, nine recommendations.
“Based upon the testimony, research presented, and information received, the Study Committee on Certificate of Need Reform has found that the problem Georgia’s CON law was intended to combat no longer exists,” the report said.
However, the head of the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals said Tuesday that repealing the law would be a bad idea.
“It would have a devastating financial impact on hospitals and the quality and access to health care,” Monty Veazey, the alliance’s chief executive, told State Affairs.
Veazey said he has not seen the recommendations yet but his organization has sent its own set of recommendations to the senate and house study committees.
“We believe that the certificate of need really does need some modernization and we look forward to working with the committee to work through those recommendations and see if we can reach a compromise position during the upcoming legislative session,” Veazey said. “We still want to see what the House committee recommends before moving forward.”
Here’s what the senate study committee recommends, according to a draft:
- Repeal CON requirements for obstetrics services, neonatal intensive care, birth centers and all services related to maternal and neonatal care across Georgia.
- End requirements for hospital-based CON on Jan. 1, 2025.
- Reform CON laws to eliminate CON review for new and expanded inpatient psychiatric services and beds that serve Medicaid patients and the uninsured.
- Repeal all cost expenditure triggers for CON.
- All medical and surgery specialties should be considered a single specialty, including cardiology and general surgery.
- Multi-specialty centers should be allowed, particularly in rural areas.
- Remove CON for hospital bed expansion.
- Revise freestanding emergency department requirements such that they must be within 35 miles of an affiliated hospital.
- Remove CON for research centers.
The committee will present its recommendations to the Georgia General Assembly when it reconvenes in January.
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Proposed redrawn Senate maps create two new Black districts, threaten two Democrats
ATLANTA — The first step in the 2023 electoral redistricting process occurred Monday when Sen. Shelly Echols, R-Gainesville, chair of the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, released a draft proposal of new Senate district maps.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ordered Georgia to redraw its state House, Senate and congressional district maps, adopted in 2021 by a majority-Republican-led Legislature, after finding they violated the Votings Rights Act by diluting the power of Black voters. The Georgia General Assembly is charged with submitting new maps to comply with Jones’ order by Dec. 8, and will be meeting in an eight-day special legislative session to do so, starting on Wednesday.
The proposed Senate maps would create two Black-majority voting districts while eliminating two white majority districts in metro Atlanta now represented by Democrats. The districts of state Sen. Elena Parent, chair of the Senate Democratic caucus, and Democratic Sen. Jason Esteves, a freshman, would become majority-Black if the redrawn maps make it through the redistricting process, a change that could invite considerably more primary challenges.
The proposed maps do not significantly alter the district lines for Sen. Valencia Seay, D-Riverdale, and Sen. Marty Harbin, R-Tyrone, whose districts Jones ruled did not comply with the Voting Rights Act. It will be up to Jones to decide if the new maps pass muster.
As it stands, the proposed Senate map will leave Republicans with a 33-23 advantage in the Senate.
On Wednesday legislators will plunge into their redistricting work during a special session at the Capitol. In addition to the state Senate maps, lawmakers must also redraw electoral maps to create Black majorities in one additional congressional district in west-metro Atlanta, and in five additional state House districts in Atlanta and the Macon-Bibb County area.
The proposed Senate maps (and all proposed maps to be submitted by legislators) are available on the Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office’s website. Written comments can be submitted (and viewed) by the public through the portal available on the Georgia General Assembly website. Most of the reapportionment and redistricting committee’s hearings are open to the public; the daily legislative schedule is available here.
“The committee encourages public participation and values the input of the community in this vital democratic process,” Echols said in a statement released on Monday.
RELATED: Legislators will be slicing up voting districts soon after you carve your Thanksgiving turkey
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Lauren Curry becomes first female gubernatorial chief of staff in Georgia history
Veteran government and political aide Lauren Curry has been named Gov. Brian Kemp’s chief of staff, becoming the first woman in Georgia’s 235-year history to hold that title. Curry, currently the deputy chief of staff, assumes her new role on Jan. 15. She succeeds Trey Kilpatrick who has accepted a job with Georgia Power as …
How to watch today’s tribute service to Rosalynn Carter live; Jimmy Carter expected to attend
ATLANTA — An invitation-only tribute service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter will be held at 1 p.m. today on the campus of Emory University at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church. Former President Jimmy Carter, who has been receiving hospice care at home in Plains since February, is expected to attend, along with other Carter …