SB 82: "Local Charter School Authorization and Support Act of 2025"; enact

Georgia law already lets charter school petitioners ask either a local school board or the State Charter Schools Commission to approve a new charter school. This bill, the Local Charter School Authorization and Support Act of 2025, tries to push more of those approvals toward local school boards. It directs the State Board of Education, working with the State Charter Schools Commission, to set up an incentive grant program: a local board that approves a brand-new local charter school petition after June 30, 2025 gets $250,000 a year for three years, subject to available state funding. The bill also adds accountability measures. If a local board denies a petition and the State Charter Schools Commission later approves the same school as a state charter, the local board must file a detailed written denial statement, which gets posted online. Local systems that rack up repeated denials that are later overturned can lose their charter system or strategic waiver status for up to three years. The Office of Charter School Compliance must also write new statewide guidelines for evaluating petitions. These accountability provisions expire automatically on July 1, 2035. The law would take effect once the Governor signs it or it otherwise becomes law.

• Creates a grant program paying local school boards $250,000 per year for three years for each new local charter school petition they approve, subject to available state funding.
• Requires local boards that deny a charter petition to submit a detailed written statement within 20 business days explaining the denial, which is posted on a public compliance website.
• Strips charter system or strategic waiver renewal eligibility for up to three years from mid-size or large school districts that repeatedly deny local charter petitions that the state later approves anyway.
• Directs the Office of Charter School Compliance to write and publish statewide guidelines and a standardized rubric for evaluating charter school petitions.
• Changes the state board's annual charter school report deadline and requires it to go to specific legislative leaders and committees instead of just the General Assembly generally.
• Sets the accountability and incentive provisions to automatically expire on July 1, 2035.

Local school boards and school districts across Georgia, charter school petitioners and organizers, the State Board of Education, the State Charter Schools Commission, the Office of Charter School Compliance, and students and families who might attend a proposed local charter school.

Local school boards would face new financial incentives to approve charter petitions and new penalties, including losing charter system status, if they deny petitions the state later approves anyway. This changes the practical calculus for how districts handle charter applications and adds public reporting on denials.

• Section 3 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2064 to require denied local charter petitioners get a written statement of denial within 20 business days, published online, detailing deficiencies, school choice access, and local school performance.
• Section 3 penalizes local systems of 10,000 to 60,000 students that deny two or more local charter petitions later approved as state charters, and systems over 60,000 students that deny three or more, with loss of charter system renewal eligibility for up to three years.
• Section 3 exempts districts whose current charter contract expires on or before July 1, 2025 from the penalty until their new contract begins, and sets an automatic repeal of these provisions on July 1, 2035.
• Section 4 adds O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2064.2, creating the $250,000-per-year, three-year incentive grant for local boards approving new local charter petitions, administered by the Department of Education with technical support from the Office of Charter School Compliance.
• Section 5 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2069 to require the Office of Charter School Compliance to publish new statewide guidelines and a standardized evaluation rubric for charter petitions.
• Section 6 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2070 to change who receives the state board's annual charter school report, adding legislative leadership and budget committees.
• Section 7 makes the law effective as soon as the Governor signs it or it otherwise becomes law without signature.

1. 2025-04-28Effective Date
2. 2025-04-28Act 15
3. 2025-04-28Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-04-04Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
6. 2025-03-31House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-03-31House Third Readers (House)
8. 2025-03-21House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)

• Clint Dixon (R, SD-45)Primary sponsor
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-51)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-31)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-54)
• Matt Brass (R, SD-6)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-48)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
• Scott Hilton (R, HD-48)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2025

   44 yea, 9 nay (1 not voting, 2 excused)

   PASSAGE BY SUBSTITUTE: Senate Vote #194

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2025

   107 yea, 62 nay (3 not voting, 8 excused)

   PASSAGE: House Vote #352

3. PassedSenate voteApril 4, 2025

   44 yea, 10 nay (1 not voting, 1 excused)

   AGREE TO HOUSE SUBSTITUTE: Senate Vote #479

• charter schools
• public education funding
• school boards
• education policy
• state charter school commission