If the

Coweta County Board of Education passes a proposed policy

for charter school applications, the road for future

charter school proponents will be a little smoother.

That's the

assessment of school administrator Blake Bass, who

explained the new proposed policy at Monday afternoon's

meeting of the school system's policy committee.

Bass

presented a proposed charter school board policy, along

with an administrative policy for charter schools and an

exhibit of charter schools to the members for their

review.

The

proposed policy comes on the heels of the school system's

discussion with owners of the proposed Odyssey School,

who want to open a charter school this fall.

Both school

officials and school board members have peppered Odyssey

School officials with questions about their proposed

school, and Bass said the new policy should help

streamline the process for future applicants.

But Bass

emphasized that if the board approves the new policy, it

will not affect the status of Odyssey's pending charter

application.

Some of the

highlights of the proposed policy are:

� Any charter school application must

be submitted by Nov. 15 if the school expects to start

the following fall.

� Charter school petitioners must have

sites that meet building codes, and must have

certificates of occupancy before schools can open.

� Transportation of students to the

school is the responsibility of the charter school

organizers.

� The local board of education will

not provide any start-up costs to the charter school

petitioners.

If the

school system receives a charter school application, the

application will be sent to a newly established charter

school review committee.

The

committee will review the application and make a

recommendation to superintendent of education Richard

Brooks, who will then make a recommendation to the school

board.

Policy

committee member Rick Melville asked Bass if the school

board would have to approve the application if the

charter school met all the requirements.

"The

state law gives the school board the final say,"

interjected Brooks.

Brooks said

he would make sure all the school board members have a

copy of the policy this week. The Policy Committee is

expected to recommend approval of the policy to the

school board at its Aug. 10 meeting.

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