Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Capital Raising

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Legacy Board Member Don Chapman Chairs Atlanta's New Tech High

After four years of planning, Atlanta's newest public charter school, Tech High, will start classes in August. Tech High, a tuition-free school with a heavy focus on math, technology and science, is moving into SciTrek downtown.

The school will have 150 students in the first year, leading up to more than 800 by the fifth year, organizers say.

SciTrek, a hands-on science museum for young people, will lease about 17,000 square feet to the school the first year. By the third year, as the student population increases, nearly 50,000 square feet will be available, said SciTrek CEO Scott Coleman.

The Georgia Public Policy Foundation helped lay the groundwork for the school. The Atlanta Board of Education approved its charter last July, and it later was approved by the State Board of Education.

As a charter school, Tech High is a public-private hybrid, relying on both public and private money.

Once students actually are in class, the Atlanta Public Schools system is expected to kick in about $5,000 a year per student. That could change, though, depending on how much (or how little) the city gets from the state.

So far, Tech High, in partnership with the Technology Association of Georgia, has raised about $2 million -- adequate to start. However, "It's going to take more than that to do what we want to do," said Tech High Foundation CEO Barbara Christmas.

More than $500,000 -- including $250,000 from the employees of venture capital firm Noro-Moseley Partners -- has come from the state's technology leaders. Some other contributors include the Robert Woodruff Foundation and Scientific-Atlanta Inc.

Symbiotic relationship

The relationship between the school and the museum will be symbiotic, officials say. While the students get access to museum resources, the museum gets extra money, increased recognition and access to the students.

SciTrek in recent years has seen decreasing membership and falling revenues. In addition to fewer membership fees, the museum also has received fewer government grants, SciTrek's Coleman said.

The school already has given SciTrek a $32,000 down payment. The school also will pay the museum about $7,500 a month in rent.

"It's a good business model," Coleman said. "It's a good thing to do for the community. And it will start to substantiate SciTrek."

About 90 eighth graders already have been accepted. Christmas, a former English teacher, said the school still needs about 60 incoming freshmen, though.

As Tech High is a public school, students will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis -- and not on other criteria.

But just because there are no admission standards, that doesn't mean classes will be dumbed down. Quite the opposite.

"We will attract those students who want to be challenged academically in math and science," Christmas said. "This school will require hard work by the students and strong support from parents."

Math 'bootcamp'

As the curriculum is so math-intensive, new students are required to go through a three-week math "boot camp" at Georgia Tech in July. In addition, before graduating, all students must complete an internship.

Parents aren't exempt either; they're required to attend regular meetings with teachers.

"We think parental involvement makes all the difference," Christmas said.

Even after graduation, work will not stop for Tech High. Christmas said officials will track the academic and professional paths of all of its graduates.

The first students attending Tech High this fall will enjoy a favorable teacher-student ratio. For the 150 students, there will be up to 12 teachers, said Atlanta businessman Don Chapman, chairman of the Tech High Foundation. Nine already have been hired. Nearly 90 applications were received.

While most public school teachers have 150 or more students to teach, Tech High teachers will have two classes of 20, Chapman said.

In addition, Tech High will pay its teachers 5 percent more than the Atlanta Public Schools system does.

When it comes to technology, Georgia faces an unusual situation: Although Atlanta is a tech leader when it comes to industry, its public high schools clearly aren't.

Georgia SAT scores ranked dead last in 2003 out of the 50 states. And Georgia's eighth graders ranked 42nd in science scores.

So many of Atlanta's high-tech companies, such as BellSouth Corp., continue to hire graduates from out-of-state.

"The crux of the issue is Atlanta has become such a center for technology, but young people graduating do not have the skills to either enter Georgia's research institutions or the tech market out of high school," Chapman said.

Tech High wants to change that paradigm.

"We believe we can do that over time," Christmas said. "We won't do it overnight. But in four years, we will have graduates who will be ready for the work force and who will do well on test scores."