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Our Charter

How is a charter school different than a public school?

Parents ask, "What is a charter school? How is a charter school different from a public school"  

A charter school has an agreement (the charter) with their state and county government, that lets them tailor policies, curriculum elements, and resources to serve the specific needs of their student body. It lets parents and administrators raise funds to finance the programs specified in the charter. The school agrees to maintain high academic standards and provide the state and county with evidence the standards were met or exceeded.  

Our 2016-2020 Charter Has Been Approved!

Congratulations and a big thank-you to the PCMS Charter Rewrite Committee for getting our charter renewed.   On August 18, the Georgia State Board of Education (SBOE) approved our charter renewal petition. Our new charter is in effect until June 30, 2021.

Advantages of our New Charter

The main advantages of the new charter are as follows:

• PCMS students now have the option to obtain up to four high school credits before leaving PCMS
  
  
• PCMS has a seat time waiver allowing faculty and administration to adjust time spent in each subject based on student need
  
  
• PCMS has autonomy over the curriculum calendar, benchmark testing, and grading percentages
  
  
• PCMS has autonomy over high achiever determination. (PCMS has already used that autonomy to switch from STAR testing to MAP testing)

Parent Letter About the New Charter

• Parent Letter (English) (Word document)
  
• Parent Letter (Spanish) (PDF)
  
• Parent Letter (web page)

Download a PDF of our 2016 charter agreement here.

Download a WORD doc of our full 2016 charter agreement here.