Macon Charter Academy reverses course, could have students this fall

Macon Charter Academy’s first-year drama took another turn this week, as the school’s leaders expressed their intentions to remain open for the 2016-17 school year.

That intent was confirmed by Matt Cardoza, chief communications officer for the Georgia Department of Education, in an email.

“We learned of this development on May 9,” Cardoza wrote.

MCA governing board President Ed Grant deferred all questions to Atlanta attorney Joel Callins. Repeated attempts to reach Callins for comment by phone and email were unsuccessful.

Curtis Jones, the superintendent of Bibb County schools, said the school’s plans for next school year had come up in a recent meeting with MCA leaders.

“We met with the leadership from Macon Charter Academy, including the board chair and members of their governing board, for our monthly charter school update on Tuesday,” Jones wrote in a statement. “During the meeting, they indicated they still plan on there being some type of operation and education going on at their school in the fall.”

Jones added that district leaders plan to attend MCA’s first bankruptcy proceedings to gather more information on the situation.

Callins was hired by the school in April after the Georgia Department of Education announced plans to pursue termination of the school’s charter, or the contract it operates under. That action was removed from the state school board’s agenda last week at the request of the state Attorney General’s Office, Cardoza said, “in an abundance of caution” after MCA filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Cardoza said there had been no update in that process since the department learned this week of MCA’s intentions to remain open, but he said those intentions would not affect termination proceedings.

The apparent decision to remain open this fall conflicted with Callins’ original statement announcing the bankruptcy filing.

“Macon Charter Academy will continue to operate as normal for the 2015-2016 school year,” Callins wrote on May 3. “However, there are no active plans or preparations to operate the school for the 2016-2017 school year.”

According to documents associated with the court filing, MCA still owes more than $9 million to HighMark School Development, which provided funding for the school’s Madison Street building. MCA also owes Prestige Charter Solutions more than $23,000 for front-office and operational services, even though Prestige is scheduled to cut ties with the school this month.

The school also has outstanding debt with other companies related to educational services and supplies, as well as $3,800 owed to T-Mobile, a cellphone provider, and about $1,000 to the Macon Water Authority.

Since a large portion of a public school’s revenue comes from state funding based on student count, paying those debts would be difficult, at best, without students in the school for a year.

Callins and Grant declined to answer when or if the MCA board voted for the bankruptcy filing. The board voted April 4 to give Grant the power to approve up to $10,000 in legal work by Callins without an additional vote.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 12:24 PM with the headline "Macon Charter Academy reverses course, could have students this fall."