Fulton Science Academy Needs $150,000 More by Wednesday

The state Department of Education has told it has until Jan. 19 to file its request to become a state charter school.

The school is at the back of the line, behind approximately 20 other schools seeking charters, renewals or conversions, said Louis Erste, director of the Charter School Division.

The deadline was supposed to be Nov. 1 for the state petition, but Fulton County School and the state agreed to several extensions in the Fulton system.

It usually takes six months to process and consider the charter request. Erste said state law only lets the Department of Education consider the petition that the local school board denied. In this case, it would be a request that had two sticking points: a 10-year charter renewal request with a blanket waiver of Title 20 requirements.

Similarly, under state law the Fulton School Board could not make changes to the charter application submitted. Board members could only approve or deny the application as presented.

Erste said common practice is for a local school system to tell a charter school what provisions it won't approve, and what it would approve. Every other charter school has changed its application to get approval. Now the state can't ask for the petition to be changed from what was submitted to the local school board, nor can the charter school make changes. The state can only ask for clarification of points on the petition.

Principal Kenan Sener said the school is working to raise another $150,000 so it has $1.1 million already in the budget for the next school year.

As of Friday morning, Jan. 13, the middle school had raised $203,000.

"Fortunately we have $750,000 in surplus that we don't need this year that we can put in next year's budget," Sener said. "Plus we were able to raise mover $200,00, which makes almost $950,000."

He said the school leaders will submit the budget to the state for its approval. The state already gives the charter school $2 million a year. What will be lost are the local dollars from the Fulton County School Board.

Sener said the $150,000 will make their job even easier.

He said the school has 500 applications from new students looking to attend the school, plus most of the existing students are staying.

"I don't see any chance of not staying open. We will be there, 100 percent," Sener said about the 2012-2013 school year.

The state will ask if the charter school can exist on a budget that only has state funding.

He was hopeful about the future for state funding since Gov. Nathan Deal said $8.7 million was added to the proposed state budget for state charter schools in what Deal called a temporary solution. Legislation will be proposed for a long-term solution.