HB202: HB202 Local Charter School Authorization and Support Act of 2025; enact

Georgia law currently lets local school boards approve or deny petitions to create charter schools, with a separate path allowing the State Charter Schools Commission to approve charters that local boards reject. This bill sets up a state-run incentive program, subject to legislative funding, that pays a local board of education $100,000 a year for three years after it approves a new local charter school petition. The Office of Charter School Compliance would run this program and offer technical help to districts acting as charter authorizers. The bill also tightens accountability. Local boards that deny a petition must now explain their reasons in writing within 10 days, and that explanation gets posted publicly. Larger districts (over 10,000 students) that deny two or more local charter petitions later approved by the state during one contract term could lose their charter system status or strategic waivers for up to three years. The bill also requires the Office of Charter School Compliance to publish evaluation guidelines for local boards and updates the state's annual charter school reporting requirement. It would take effect once signed by the Governor or otherwise becomes law.

• Creates a State Charter Schools Commission incentive program paying local boards of education $100,000 per year for three years after approving a new local charter school petition, subject to available state funding.
• Requires local boards that deny a charter petition to submit a detailed written statement of reasons within 10 days to the state board and Office of Charter School Compliance, which must then post it publicly within three days.
• Penalizes large school districts (over 10,000 students) that deny two or more local charter petitions later approved by the state, barring them from renewing charter system or strategic waiver status for up to three years.
• Directs the Office of Charter School Compliance to prepare and publish standardized guidelines and a rubric for local boards to evaluate charter school petitions.
• Requires the State Board of Education to submit an annual report to legislative leaders on the charter school program's status, including incentive effectiveness.
• Allows incentive grant money to be used for hiring staff, oversight, compliance monitoring, and professional development related to charter school authorization.

Local school boards and school districts across Georgia, especially larger systems with more than 10,000 students; charter school petitioners and organizers seeking to start or convert schools; the State Charter Schools Commission; the Office of Charter School Compliance; and the State Board of Education, all of which gain new duties under the bill.

Districts that approve new charter schools would receive direct state payments, giving them a financial reason to say yes to petitions they might otherwise deny. At the same time, large districts that repeatedly reject petitions later approved by the state risk losing flexibility over their own charter or waiver status for years.

• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2064 to require written denial statements within 10 days, public posting of those statements, and a penalty for large districts that deny two or more petitions later approved by the state during one contract term.
• Section 4 adds new O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2064.2, creating the incentive grant program: $100,000 per year for three years per approved new local charter petition, reduced proportionally if funding is insufficient.
• Section 4 limits incentive grants to newly approved charter petitions, excluding renewals of existing charter schools.
• Section 5 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2069 to require the Office of Charter School Compliance to publish evaluation guidelines and a standardized rubric for local boards reviewing charter petitions.
• Section 6 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2070 to require the State Board of Education to submit an annual charter school status report to legislative leaders by December 31 each year.
• Section 7 sets the effective date as upon the Governor's approval or the bill otherwise becoming law without signature.

1. 2025-02-04House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-03House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-30House Hopper (House)

• Scott Hilton (R, HD-048)Primary sponsor
• Jan Jones (R, HD-047)
• Matt Dubnik (R, HD-029)
• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)
• Carmen Rice (R, HD-139)
• Will Wade (R, HD-009)

• charter schools
• education funding
• school boards
• education policy