Good morning, CharterFolk.
Today we are pleased to share a Contributor Column from Matt Tyson, the CEO of Tapestry Public Charter Schools in Atlanta, Georgia.
We provide a bio for Matt below.
Dr. Matthew M. Tyson is an educational leader based in Atlanta who began his career as a special education teacher and currently serves as the CEO of Tapestry Public Charter Schools, an inclusive charter school model where each school has an equal population of neurotypical and special needs students. Dr. Tyson is a passionate advocate for educational equity and providing authentic opportunities for student voice in educational programming. His goal is to help expand access to school choice so that all students can have access to a high-quality education.
Dr. Tyson was an early proponent of artificial intelligence in the classroom and his work on the impact of AI on educational leadership has been published in the Journal of Educational Leadership. While studying for his doctoral degree, he was selected to represent Georgia State University at the David L. Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar and he is a 2023 GSU 40 Under 40 Award Recipient. Dr. Tyson has presented at numerous education conferences across the nation and has helped his school achieve awards such as Georgia Charter School of the Year and a Building Hope Impact Award for Student Empowerment.
The Future of School Choice
The school choice movement is approaching a crossroads that will determine the direction of the American educational system for decades to come. School choice has gained momentum in the past decade, and parents, who have learned that their zoned school may not be the best fit for their child, are hungry for alternatives. The freedom to choose their child’s educational future should not be up for discussion. Students are unique individuals, and assuming that the same educational setting will be the best fit for everyone ignores important differences between learners. This seems like common sense, but traditional systems are threatened by what they see as ‘competition.” Fear of losing a place of influence or importance has therefore guided policy, which has led to a system where the structure is filled with rot, and where failing school systems oppose any innovative model in the fear that they will lose funding. We know the truth; money follows the child, and they deserve a school that serves them and honors them for who they are.
Contrary to popular belief, public charter schools are subject to more scrutiny than their traditional counterparts and quick closure when stringent standards are not met. The districts that see themselves in competition with charters are the very same who are trusted with authorizing and evaluating them. This paradoxical system empowers those who are the most threatened by the existence of any new model to decide whether to approve it. It is like checking in with a McDonald’s to make sure they are okay with building a Wendy’s next door. Some school systems are more forward-thinking, but too often the answer to any potential new charter school will be a “No.” Again, fear rules in the traditional system approval process, where many potentially incredible charter schools go to die.
Our world is changing more rapidly than it has in generations. Traditional public schools are by design slow to change. There is safety in repeating and refining one, fixed model. However, the problems with this approach are multiple. The single-model design has never worked for all children. Humans have diverse needs, backgrounds, goals, dreams, strengths, and deficits. Schools need the ability to adapt to the needs of diverse learners. Additionally, traditional schools, by being insulated from rapid change, are unable to pivot to meet the needs of a changing world. Like it or not, we live in a constantly changing technological environment that our children will need to prepare for in order to navigate the dynamic 21st century job market. Public charters are dynamic incubators of novel and promising educational models reflecting the needs of learners, communities, and an evolving world.
I have spent the past decade as Assistant Principal, Principal, and now CEO of Tapestry Public Charter School, a single-site charter school in Atlanta, Georgia, that was founded by parents of children on the autism spectrum who sought an authentically inclusive middle/high school environment. Half of the students we have at Tapestry have special needs and half do not, yet all students learn together in a rigorous but individualized college preparatory environment. Despite the neurodiversity in our student body (the district as a whole has about 12% students with special needs, compared with our 50%) our students consistently outpace the academic growth of their peers in traditional public schools. Three years ago, we determined that after more than a decade of outstanding performance and financial stability, it was time to expand our impact by serving students in a new community. We initially approached Atlanta Public Schools in the 2022-23 school year about replicating Tapestry in their district. APS, like many districts, has faced challenges in meeting the needs of diverse learners. Despite our small footprint (we only serve 301 students at capacity) and the articulated needs of the community, the APS board decided not to approve our charter. Their board unanimously voted against us, with reasons designed for politics rather than student need, such as “a nationwide teacher shortage.” Scarcity mindsets will always respond out of fear. After that initial denial we tried again in the 2023-24 school year; we felt that we owed it to the more than 700 APS parents that signed initial intent-to-enroll forms. We jumped through every hoop the APS board created and were denied yet again, meaning that APS parents searching for a different school model for their children were out of luck.
On the positive side, our struggles did not go unnoticed, nor were we alone. Districts in Georgia have been doing the same as APS for a long time. For the past seven years, NO district in Georgia accepted ANY charter petitions. The state was the only remaining authorizer, which is an untenable situation, given the importance of collaboration and connection between a school and its community. Georgia state senators and representatives showed courage in uniting around a bipartisan bill, SB-82, that provides both incentives and penalties for districts presented with a hopeful charter’s petition.
After the two denials from APS, it would have been easy to throw in the towel. But we listened to families. We collaborated with local and state advocates. We learned. And we held on to our convictions and belief in our mission. We knew that parents needed our model and wanted to keep up the good fight, so we explored other options in the metro Atlanta area. This led to us finding a group of committed parents in Clayton County who were fighting for more inclusive environments for their own children, and we worked closely with them to make this dream a reality. On June 2, 2025, the Clayton County Public Schools’ Board of Education voted to authorize Tapestry to open a second campus in Clayton County. This represents the first locally-authorized public charter school in Georgia in seven years and the first district-to-district replication in Georgia ever. While our communities are taking a moment to celebrate, we know that the work is still just beginning. The setbacks in our journey, which once seemed insurmountable, ended up making state legislation possible. Culturally, we are at an inflection point. Both sides of the aisle are getting pressure from their constituents. No one is happy with the state of education in America; but charters offer a new path. Charters remind us that education should be dynamic and responsive, schools should fit the child (not the other way around), and parent voice and choice still matter. With the speed of this changing world and the continual emergence of new challenges and opportunities, we need charters to innovate and adapt so that ALL of our kids have the best shot possible.