On September 25, 2015, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the Atlanta Public Schools charter system application during its state board meeting. Atlanta Public Schools will become the 33rd school system in Georgia to achieve Charter System status.

A charter system is a school district that operates under a performance-based contract between the local board and the state board of education. Under the Charter System operating model, Atlanta Public Schools would gain freedom and flexibility from many state education laws and regulations in exchange for increased accountability for student achievement. Additionally, charter systems must distribute meaningful decision-making authority to individual schools by maximizing school-level governance through local school governance teams.

As a Charter System, Atlanta Public Schools will agree to a five year contract with the State Board of Education to use the broad flexibility from almost all state education laws and regulations to innovate in exchange for increased accountability for student achievement. A key element to charter system  is moving decision making closer to where learning takes place. That means leaving decisions to the school system and to the schools within the system. It also means involving more people in the decision making process. A Local School Governance Team in each school is the method APS will use to get the community, parents and teachers involved in decision making to maximize educational opportunities for our students.

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