(DISCLAIMER: some information has been corrected in this article)
Barrow and Athens-Clarke County recently made the switch to a charter school system. The charter system provides parents and other community members a greater influence on school policy and other issues. But for parents who want to take advantage of these benefits, they have to live within these counties.
The Clarke County School District charter system contract includes the establishment of Local School Governance Teams, or LSGTs. Members of local school governance teams are elected by local parents and community members. According to the contract, members of these teams have tremendous say in school policy making.
However, in order to send your child to one of these schools, you must live within that particular county. That means parents in neighboring counties like Oconee, cannot take advantage of the new charter school system despite the fact those schools may be just a few minutes away.
For those who do not necessarily like the charter school system, there is a way to send your child to a different school system but stay within the area. Oglethorpe and Jackson county provide non-resident applications on their websites to allow students who don’t live within the county to attend schools within those districts.
Both counties have applications on their website, but Jackson Oglethorpe County requires a $2801 tuition fee to send a non-resident student to one of their schools.
UPDATE: Per Jackson County School System Communications Director, Karen Bridgeman, Jackson county does not require a tuition fee. The correction has been made that Oglethorpe County requires the tuition fee.
