2025 Code of Georgia
Title 20 - Education (Chs. 1 — 18)
Chapter 2 - Elementary and Secondary Education (Arts. 1 — 34)
Article 31A - State Charter Schools (§§ 20-2-2080 — 20-2-2094)

Annotations

Notes

Ga. L. 2012, p. 1298, § 3/HB 797, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that this article shall be repealed effective January 1, 2013, and that a new article shall be enacted, only if a Constitutional amendment expressly authorizing the General Assembly to create state charter schools as special schools was ratified at the November 2012, general election. Ga. L. 2012, p. 1364/HR 1162 was ratified at the election held on November 6, 2012.

The former article, relating to the Georgia Charter Schools Commission, consisted of Code Sections 20-2-2080 through 20-2-2092. The former article was based on Code 1981, §§ 20-2-2080—20-2-2092, enacted by Ga. L. 2008, p. 603, § 1/HB 881; Ga. L. 2009, p. 8, § 20/SB 46, and was repealed by Ga. L. 2012, p. 1298, § 1/HB 797, effective January 1, 2013.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Article 31A, Code Section 20-2-2080 et seq., which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this article, are included in the annotations for this article.

Georgia Charter Schools Commission Act, former O. C. G. A. § 20-2-2081 et seq., violated the special schools provision of Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VIII, Sec. V, Para. VII(a) by authorizing a state commission to establish competing state-created general K-12 schools under the guise of being special schools. The special schools authorized by the constitution were not competitors with locally controlled schools in regard to the education of general K-12 students; rather, the constitutionally significant matters that made a school “special” were directly related to the school itself, the school’s student body and the school’s curriculum. Gwinnett County Sch. Dist. v. Cox, 289 Ga. 265, 710 S. E.2d 773, 2011 Ga. LEXIS 388 (2011) (decided under former O. C. G. A. § 20-2-2080 et seq.).

Opinion Notes

In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions under former Article 31A, Code Section 20-2-2080 et seq., which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this article, are included in the annotations for this article.

Unless and until the General Assembly adopts clarifying legislation, it is within the sound discretion of the Teachers Retirement System Board of Trustees to determine whether teachers who are employed not less than half-time by commission charter schools must be members of the Teachers Retirement System. 2010 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 2010-5 (decided under former O. C. G. A. § 20-2-2080 et seq.).

Research References & Practice Aids

Charter School Planning Grants, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rules of Georgia Department of Education, Grant Programs, Rule 160-1-4-.155.

Charter School Implementation Grants, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rules of Georgia Department of Education, Grant Programs, Rule 160-1-4-.255.

Charter School Dissemination Grants, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rules of Georgia Department of Education, Grant Programs, Rule 160-1-4-.267.

Exemptions, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rules of Bright from the Start Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, Child Care Learning Centers, Rule 591-1-1-.46.

Rules of State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rule 691-1-.01 et seq.

For article on the 2012 enactment of this article, see 29 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 1 (2012).

O. C. G. A. Title 20

O. C. G. A. Title 20, Ch. 2