Phillip Brown

Two charter schools are scheduled to open in Chattanooga this year, and the number of Georgia charters nearly has doubled in recent years.

But save for one charter high school in Dalton, neighboring North Georgia largely has been left out of the alternative schooling movement.

A group of citizens petitioned the Catoosa County Board of Education last year to open a technology-focused charter school, but Georgia Department of Education officials said the school would not open as scheduled in 2010, which makes Whitfield Career Academy one of the few charters in the area.

Officials say that since some of the school districts in North Georgia are smaller and less diverse, there is less need for charter schools’ flexibility and alternative curriculum meant to increase achievement among subgroups of students.

“In the Northwest Georgia area, we already have small systems such as Chickamauga and Rome City. Those systems already have some of the same advantages (as charter schools),” said Elaine Womack, spokeswoman for Walker County Schools. “Small districts and small populations — a lot of them don’t have enough students to qualify for certain subgroups.”

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools and school districts must make academic progress every year — or Adequate Yearly Progress — in each subgroup of students, including those with disabilities and individual minority groups. There must be at least 45 students in a subgroup to be counted.

Phillip Brown, principal of the Whitfield Career Academy, said because he runs a charter school he can create a more flexible student schedule and give students more personalized attention.

“I’m such a believer in meeting your student need that if a charter school is needed, then do it,” said Mr. Brown, whose school opened four years ago. “If it’s not and you can get that flexibility within your current system, then why do a charter school?”

In recent months, President Barack Obama and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan both have praised charter schools, encouraging states such as Tennessee to remove the limit on the number that can be formed.

Tennessee lawmakers recently voted down a bill that would lift a cap on the number of charter schools that can be formed, but several schools and entire school districts throughout Georgia have taken advantage of charter school legislation that has passed in the last two years.

One law allowed entire school systems to apply to the state Board of Education and negotiate a charter contract under which the system and its schools would operate. If the board approves the contract, the charter system governs itself via the contract rather than standardized state operating regulations.

A second bill signed into law last year created a statewide commission that can approve a petition for a charter school even if the local school board has rejected it.

Georgia has 113 charter schools — including 17 that opened last school year — which is roughly double the number of two years ago.

Although Catoosa County is still without a charter school, Superintendent Denia Reese said she would be open to the possibility of another proposal in the future.

“The Catoosa County Board of Education and I were excited about this opportunity,” she said about the Ringgold proposal in an e-mail. “Charter schools are eligible for funds from foundations and grants that public schools are not eligible to receive. They also have the opportunity to request waivers from certain state and federal laws, but are required to meet performance objectives based on the charter contract.”