Gov. Nathan Deal will be in Cherokee this morning to sign House Bill 797, which will restore the state charter schools commission if voters approve a corresponding constitutional amendment in November.

Deal's office announced this afternoon that the signing would take place at 10 a.m. at Cherokee Charter Academy, which has been ground zero in the county's school choice debate. 

In a 4-3 decision last May, the state Supreme Court struck down the Georgia Charter Schools Commission as unconstitutional, which nullified its authority to grant charters to schools rejected by local school boards.

The court said the state commission could not force school districts to pay for charter schools the local school board had rejected, such as Cherokee Charter Academy.

The school, located along the Sixes Road corridor, eventually secured the approval and the funding it needed to open its doors for the 2011-12 school year.

On a 40-16 roll-call vote in March, two votes more than the two-thirds majority required, the Georgia Senate approved House Resolution 1162, a response to last year’s Supreme Court decision.

H.R. 1162 allows voters to choose if the state should have full authority to approve local charter schools. The referendum will be on the November ballot. During its April 19 meeting, the Cherokee County Board of Education approved a resolution urging Georgians to reject H.R. 1162.

If voters approve that measure, the corresponding H.B. 797 will re-establish the charter schools commission and make clear how charter schools will be authorized and funded by the state going forward.