Dublin school board denies group’s petition for new charter school

The Dublin City Board of Education voted Monday night to deny a parent group’s petition for a new public charter school over concerns it would draw students and resources from district’s own Irish Gifted Academy.

The group needed the school board to authorize the charter for the proposed Middle Georgia Preparatory Academy. Its self-appointed school board now can appeal to the State Charter Schools Commission and the Georgia Board of Education.

“We’ve got to decide that as a board, but our intention is to apply to the state,” one of the parents, Will Curry, said after the meeting.

The school district faces a projected multi-million dollar deficit by fiscal year’s end, raising concerns about state funding and property tax revenue that could be redirected toward the charter school. The district’s financial crisis sparked fears about Irish Gifted Academy’s future, and led some parents to petition for the charter school.

“Is this going to have any effect on our finances for our district?” asked city board member Kenny Walters.

Interim School Superintendent Marcee Pool said the district would receive funds for the charter school from the State Charter Schools Commission for three years, with the Dublin district actually receiving 3 percent of that.

“After three years, we would not collect any funds for them,” Pool said. “They would be in charge of their budget, so any of the FTE (full-time enrollment) money that the city schools normally would receive goes directly to the school, and they would manage that.”

The board’s vote to deny the petition was preceded by a “School Spotlight” presentation by IGA principal Matt Taylor, who highlighted some of the gifted academy’s achievements, as growth in enrollment.

“We just saw a presentation about our successful program,” said board member James Lanier. “I don’t understand why we would have need for (a charter school), to split our students.”

A committee of teachers, parents, principals, central office staff and community members was appointed by the city school board to study the petition. Pool said the committee met with the proposed school’s board members and “asked all the questions they had … related to the rationale for establishing the new school, the projected enrollment, financial sustainability, curriculum instruction, transportation, nutrition services, maintenance and operations, and technology.”

The committee recommended that the board deny the petition.

So did Dublin resident Peter Lipski, who earlier during public comments speculated that despite the “public charter school” label, the new school would enroll only “handpicked students.”

“That’s not for these students,” Lipski said, turning toward several attending the meeting.

Taylor noted during his presentation that Irish Gifted Academy is “a program, not a school,” with its students all connected to a “base school,” such as Dublin Middle School. Its enrollment is diverse – about 51 percent black and about 44 percent white – with 14 percent of students “gifted identified,” Taylor said.

He also noted that IGA began in 2019 with 90 students and currently enrolls 254 in pre-K through eighth grade —an increase of 182 percent.

“If they’re not identified as gifted, still, all they have to do is apply. We have not denied many students.”

Taylor highlighted many of the IGA’s current accomplishments, including 92 percent content mastery scores for grades 3-8 on the Georgia Milestones Assessment – 24 percent higher than the state average.  

Walters said the presentation “cleared up some myths about who all is attending” the IGA.