Cobb County board discusses recommending Power Public Schools charter for South Cobb

The Cobb County Board of Education in a Feb. 12 work session heard a staff recommendation to approve a charter petition from Power Public Schools that, if approved by the board, would operate under the district and aim to open in August 2027 serving grades 6–7 and expanding one grade per year to Grade 12.

Mr. Floresta, the district’s Chief Strategy and Accountability Officer, told the board staff had not seen a petition of this quality in recent memory and recommended approval. He said Power Public Schools proposes roughly $1,000,000 in seed funds and “another $4,000,000 roughly that is committed at least verbally by a series of funders,” naming Google, Microsoft, the Walton Family Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Redefined Ed and PlayLab AI as supporters. Floresta said the petition proposes two potential sites in South Cobb (one in Austell and a backup in Powder Springs), and a model in which students spend about two hours each morning on AI-driven academic content with the remainder of the school day…