Charter high school ringing alarm bell, may close in June

Jan. 4—A night charter school program serving students in Glynn and surrounding counties may have to close its doors in June if needed funding is not found.

Coastal Plains Education Charter High School, which opened its first site in 2017 in Glynn County, serves nearly 2,000 students in South Georgia through an online program. Almost 200 students are enrolled at the Glynn site, housed at the Golden Isles College and Career Academy.

Coastal Plains partners with Glynn County Schools and other school districts.

"Our concern is that there's a possibility that we will have to close. We serve 2,000 students, have 685 employees, and at the end of June our doors could be closed," said Richard Rentz, the superintendent of Coastal Plains. "Our goal is to stay alive and continue to serve the kids in Georgia."

Coastal Plains and two other charter school programs — Mountain Education and Foothills — saw their funding formulas altered in 2021 by Senate Bill 153, also known as the Graduation Opportunities and Advanced Learning Act signed by Gov. Brian Kemp on May 4, 2021.

The bill will alter the charter program's state funding formula beginning in June.

Rentz and other Coastal Plains staff hope the state legislature will address the potential ramifications of the legislation during the legislative session that begins this month.

"I think that anyone who hears about our program believes in it," said Beverly Strickland, Southeast regional director for Coastal Plains. "... We're just trying to get the word out to all of our representatives and anyone who will listen."

Some legislators seemed to misunderstand the program and its purpose, Rentz said. Others felt local school districts need to do more to fund the charter programs.

"They felt like the school systems should be sending money to us to help fund their education," he said.

Senate Bill 153 began as one that the charter school programs supported, Rentz said. But it changed dramatically as it went through the House, he said.

"The major emphasis on Senate Bill 153 when it first started out was to cut some of the funding that we were receiving, and we didn't have a problem with that," Rentz said.

The charter school programs are housed in school facilities, which removes some of the overhead costs needed.

"We saw the need to cut our budget," Rentz said. "And the Senate bill did that. Not a problem. However, when it went to the House, it changed completely."

The bill also moved Coastal Plains and similar programs under Georgia Department of Education operations rather than operating under the State Charter School Commission. The bill cut out funding received through the State Charter School Commission, which provided about half of Coastal Plains' budget, Rentz said.

Rentz, who worked for Glynn County Schools for almost 20 years, said this program is an asset to the community, but many seem to misunderstand the way the night high school works and the purpose it serves.

"Kids choose to come to us," he said. "They have different circumstances. Some of our high schools are very big. Kids have anxiety, they don't like being in those big schools, and they get a lot of attention when they come to us."

Andrew Madden, a site director on the Glynn site, also teaches at Brunswick High School during the day. He said he's met many students at Brunswick High School who for a variety of reasons need an alternative high school option.

Some have challenges in their personal lives or work conflicts. Others have mental health challenges like anxiety that make a crowded high school an overstimulating and unproductive place to learn.

Coastal Plains offers self-paced learning with night class options and smaller class sizes that better serve these students, Madden said.

"It's truly needed with the way society has changed, with the way things have changed in the world," he said. "There needs to be other options for kids to get a diploma and not have to fit into this cookie cutter path that everyone else goes along."

The COVID-19 pandemic also increased many students' anxieties, making an alternative option like Coastal Plains more needed, said Joseph Depenhart, a team coordinator at the Glynn site and principal at GICCA.

Coastal Plains offers wrap-around services, including a mentor program that benefits the students, Rentz said.

"They build those relationships, and they can earn a regular high school diploma and not go through all the regular high school drama if they don't want to be a part of it," he said. "Since we're flexible with our scheduling, kids can come in and work during the day or they can keep their children during the day and come in at night and go to school."

Coastal Plains has expanded to 15 sites in South Georgia since 2017.

Around 6,000 total students are served by the three charter programs that are affected by this legislation, Rentz said.

"We contribute a lot to our students and to our families, and to see Coastal Plains or Mountain Ed or Foothills be closed, I think that's a disservice to a number of students and families throughout the state of Georgia," he said.

Coastal Plains will not have the funding it needs to continue past June 30 — the end of the fiscal year — if the legislature or state education department does not address the issue, Rentz said.

"We are trying to get our story out there so that we can have support and try to move a bill or a compromise forward," he said.

There's a misperception that Coastal Plains is an "alternative school," Strickland said.

"We're not an alternative school for behavioral issues," she said. "We have an alternative schedule. We're an accredited night high school that functions like others. We have a lot of wrap-around services for students."

Students who fall behind academically may struggle to catch up in the traditional high school setting, Depenhart said, and an online night program can be the solution.

"If the student is motivated, they can easily get caught up and sometimes even graduate sooner than they would have had they been at the base school," he said.

Madden said there are many success stories to share.

He recalled a student at Brunswick High who had fallen slightly behind and then became pregnant. He encouraged her to consider enrolling at Coastal Plains, which she did. She then graduated months ahead of her former classmates.

"She had her baby," he said. "Her baby was at graduation."

Josiah King, a senior, enrolled in the program in the fall 2022 based on the recommendation of a school counselor.

"They told me to come here and you might have a better chance to graduate," King said.

He said he's enjoyed the program's flexible class schedule.

Alicia Rosenbaum, who has taught for Charter Plains since it opened in 2017 and who has been an educator for 18 years, said many students do not want to be in or cannot thrive in the traditional high school setting.

"They're able to come here and work and not have all of the things that go along with being in a building with 1,000 other kids," she said. "It'a great opportunity for them to actually just come in and focus on getting what they need and getting out."