The Savannah-Chatham County Board of Public Education approved Wednesday an 8-year extension to Savannah Classical Academy’s charter, although the renewal did not include some elements requested by SCA in its renewal petition.
SCA’s request included an increase in its enrollment cap to 1,000 students from its current 640 student cap. The enrollment cap increase was the primary point of contention among the board, which opted on a 7-2 vote to maintain the 640 cap in the new 8-year renewal.
Board President Roger Moss and District 7 Representative Stephanie Campbell were the lone no votes and advocated for the increase to the 1,000-student limit based on SCA's strong academic performance. Board members that objected to the increase cited the fact
SCA has never enrolled up to its current cap and has consistently maintained a waitlist of over 250 students over the past five years.
“I'm not willing to expand enrollment when you haven't gotten anywhere close to your 640 since you've been in existence,” said District 4 Representative Shawn Kachmar.
SCA sought an enrollment cap increase in part due to enrollment projections that anticipate the number of students eclipsing 640 by the 2027-2028 school year. Those projections estimate enrollment reaching 975 in 10 years.
The requested enrollment increase would have also positioned SCA to support new courses, enrichment programs, student organizations and athletic opportunities, according to SCA’s renewal petition. The petition says SCA anticipates expanding to multiple campuses to accommodate future enrollment growth.
“We’re growing, and we’re growing consistently since 2020,” said SCA CEO Barry Lollis.
The renewal for eight years is an increase over the standard 5-year renewal period, despite an initial recommendation from board staff to stay at the standard 5-year length. SCCPSS Superintendent Denise Watts’ initial 5-year recommendation was due to new state accountability frameworks for charter authorizers such as SCCPSS.
Watts said in a letter to SCA that she believed the system needed to establish a “consistent cadence” in how it uses the new framework before committing to longer-term contracts. Still, SCA leadership pushed for a longer-term renewal based on hitting performance standards outlined in its existing contract, and the recommendation was changed to eight years after meeting with system staff.
There was broad consensus among the board for a longer renewal term due to SCA meeting its performance standards. In the academic performance category, SCA’s 2025 content mastery scores outpaced the district and state for elementary, middle and high school grade bands.
“What I am hearing from parents is so beyond great,” Moss said, referencing parent emails related to the renewal. “These parents are pleased with the culture.”
But the board split was driven by the enrollment cap request. Waitlist totals have ranged from 295 to 556 over the past five years, according to SCA’s renewal proposal.
Lollis said in a follow-up interview the school has added students in kindergarten through high school every year for the last five years. SCA prioritizes filling its 75 kindergarten seats each year to create a pipeline of students that grow within the school’s culture, Lollis said.
“I have to make sure that I can be able to take children in versus that children that are leaving, because we’re still growing,” Lollis said.
Multiple board members that opposed the cap increase expressed openness to revisiting the charter in coming months if SCA develops a specified strategy to increase enrollment and let more students off the waitlist. Kachmar said if SCA developed the plan, he would be willing to reconsider a cap increase as early as January.
The final provision left out of SCA’s renewal was a request to give Tybee Island Maritime Academy students priority into SCA’s ninth grade program. Watts’ recommendation said justification for the request was unfound, and Lollis said the school was ultimately okay with leaving that provision out of the renewal.
The meeting room Wednesday was riddled with parents and students wearing SCA red; the group sounded off applause on multiple occasions when board members made points in support of SCA.
Still, the board’s decision drew the ire of some SCA advocates. Rick Roney, a member of SCA’s board and co-chair of the Chatham Education Alliance, criticized the school board in a letter following the meeting.
“In my 3-minute comments to the Board, I said one of the negative outcomes of a denial of the SCA application would be a confirmation in the public eye of the Board’s lack of interest in pursuing excellence in education,” Roney said in the letter, referencing comments made during the meeting.
“That just happened today.”
Evan Lasseter is the City of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Classical charter renewed, but with no enrollment increase
