State approves Sandy Springs charter after county shuttered elementary school

Key points:
• The Save Spalding Committee, a Sandy Springs-based, parent-led nonprofit, received approval for a new charter school from a state commission in late July.
• Fulton County Schools closed Spalding Drive Elementary School in 2025 amid a chorus of opposition from the Sandy Springs community and rejected attempts to buy the site and open a charter school.
•The new state charter school plans to welcome students in fall 2027 with National Heritage Academies, its chosen operator, pending the acquisition of a brick-and-mortar location.

Nearly two years after Fulton County Schools announced its intentions to shutter Spalding Drive Elementary in Sandy Springs, the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia approved a parent-led nonprofit’s petition for a new charter school.

Save Spalding Committee Board Chair Raymond Grote said nearly 180 families in Sandy Springs (and surrounding communities, like Dunwoody and East Cobb) have expressed interest in sending their children to the new charter school.

“We made the argument before they closed the school … you’re going to create a negative self-reinforcing cycle,” Grote said. “You close the school, people lose faith in the system, they leave, they move, and so even without the charter school, they lost a lot of kids.”

Spalding community rallies

Grote said he and fellow board members are extremely excited to reach the milestone. He said his group has been “learning on the fly.”

“It has been a long process that started with a loss,” Grote said. “The application process is a lot of work and then a lot of wait-and-see … Now, we get to actually start building something, which is the fun part for me.”

The Save Spalding Committee is working with a charter operator, National Heritage Academies, to open the Spalding Academy for Innovation and Learning by the start of the 2027-28 school year.

The nonprofit was formed last February, around the time the school board members voted to close the more than 60-year-old neighborhood elementary school. Despite a chorus of opposition from elected officials, parents, and even some teachers, the site is now a teaching museum and administrative space.

Grote said state law required the committee to apply to the county before initiating the process with the state. He said his group’s first interview with state officials was June 1.

“The state doesn’t look at it unless the county rejects it,” Grote said, explaining that board members never really expected approval from school district leadership. “We interviewed with the state in early June … got a recommendation two weeks ago, and then yesterday [July 29] was the approval vote.”

Timeline of related stories

• Sept. 12, 2024:
Fulton County Schools proposes closing Spalding Drive Elementary
• Sept. 24, 2024:
School district faces backlash over Spalding Drive closure plan
• Oct. 8, 2024:
Parents push back on Fulton County School’s redistricting plan
• Dec. 28, 2024:
Save Spalding Committee makes its case in 106-page report
• Jan. 15, 2025:
Parents, elected officials urge board to keep school open
• Feb. 12, 2025:
School board hears passionate pleas to keep Spalding Drive School open
• Feb. 21, 2025:
Fulton school board votes to close Spalding Drive Elementary
• Feb. 21, 2025:
Spalding Drive School parents want to open charter school
• May 9, 2025:
FCS rejects $10 million offer for Spalding Drive school
• Aug. 11, 2025:
‘Save Spalding’ nears decision on charter school operator
• Jan. 22, 2026:
Nonprofit seeks charter school approval from Fulton County

Charter school next steps

Grote said the nonprofit’s selected operator, National Heritage Academies, played an “instrumental” role in helping parents with the technical side of the application. NHA is a private for-profit management company with more than 100 charter schools in nine states.

National Heritage Academies operates two charter schools in Georgia: Atlanta Heights on the west side and Four Points Preparatory Academy in Braselton. All NHA schools are tuition-free, according to its website.

Grote mentioned community members who helped in the effort, including SSC board members Aja Burks, Erin Carey, Mary Elizabeth Crowell, Nora Robb, Mark Silver, and Jennifer Lord Wilson. Also, he said Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, council member Melody Kelley, former council member Andy Bauman, and city staff are big supporters, most recently helping identify potential properties.

“Outside of that, our general counsel is Edward Lindsey, who was one of the folks who actually helped draft and pass the first charter school law in the state,” Grote said. “It’s been a top-to-bottom community effort.”

Grote said many families moved to the neighborhood specifically to send their kids to a high-performing public elementary school. Now many have left the district by moving or going private, he said.

“They chose not to approve us, and so we’re going to be a state charter school,” Grote said. “We’re going to draw directly from their population … they will lose, my guess, hundreds of students.”

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