Between the years 2011-2013, charter petitions submitted to the Clayton County Board of Education were denied. Through changes in Georgia legislation, specifically through House Rule 1162, a new state-level charter school authorizer was created in efforts to provide an appellate process for charter schools denied by local boards of education in Georgia. Of the 16 initial petitions submitted to this newly created entity, the State Charter Schools Commission (SCSC) of Georgia, 12 groups were invited to interview based on the quality of their submitted petitions. Of this group, the SCSC only advanced four petitioning teams in the process. However, on October 30, 2013, the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia only approved one school—Utopian Academy for the Arts.
