The Georgia Charter Schools Association applauds Gov. Brian Kemp for signing House Bill 1215, a crucial equity access bill for Georgia charter schools. The bill was championed by the Georgia Charter Schools Association, its member schools and key legislators. Gov. Kemp signed the favorable charter legislation on Tuesday, May, 3. During the 2022 legislative session, the Georgia Senate approved the bill 45-9 and the Georgia House passed the bill 113-45.
The newly signed legislation was sponsored by state Rep. Brad Thomas and does four things:
1) it refines the state’s charter school definition to better distinguish charter schools from charter systems, College and Career Academies and other school choice models in the state;
2) it prevents local districts from prohibiting students from transferring to charter schools during the school year;
3) it closes a loophole in the funding calculation for local charter schools by basing funding on collected (versus budgeted) local revenue.
4) it removes the performance audit requirement for virtual state charter schools.
House Bill 1215 goes into effect on Friday, July 1.
