Gwinnett County district sues Georgia over charter school funding

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Gwinnett County (Ga.) school district has sued the state of Georgia over the way it authorizes charter schools and allocates funds for them. The lawsuit contends that the Georgia Charter Schools Commission is illegally funding and authorizing new schools outside the mandates of the state constitution. State Department of Education officials defend the commission’s authority and its right to reallocate money to the charter schools it approves. Commission chartered-schools receive a matching share of local funds for the education of students carved from the home districts of the children it serves. Ivy Preparatory Academy in Norcross will receive allotments totaling more than $1 million from the districts of the students it serves--about $850,000 of that money will come from Gwinnett Schools. The first payment was made last month.