MACON, Ga. — Brittany Price made the decision to home school two of her kids, Isabella and Cole, last year. They've been on the waitlist for the Academy for Classical Education for three years now.
"When the school year ended, I started homeschooling because we can't get into ACE, and that's all we're trying to do."
Now that the academy will be a state charter school, Price has even more questions about where her children fall into the equation. "Are the kids in Bibb County, are they going to be prioritized, or is it just going to be everyone goes in and whoever gets in gets in? Are they going to open up bigger classrooms to accommodate more children coming into the school?"
The answer to both of these questions is no.
Gregg Stevens with the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia says charter schools, both at the local and state level, must continue to run a lottery system. "It will have to be on a random basis. There is no provision in law for a charter school to provide priority based on a student's residence."
He says the key difference between local charter schools and those approved by the state is getting funds from the state budget.
"A state charter school does not get any local tax dollars," Stevens adds.
Whitt Gaither, the chairman of the board for ACE, says the school has been in high demand since it first opened five years ago. "I'm not sure that we had a full grasp of the demand that was gonna be in front of us as a result of opening a school of choice."
Gaither says he understands that opening up admission to students all across Georgia will make it more difficult for students to get in, but they have no plans to expand. "The lower the class size, the better educational outcome we get for the students. We take that very seriously."
The class sizes are currently around 20 students and the lottery for this upcoming school year will be in late March.
Gaither emphasizes that none of these changes will affect the students currently enrolled.