Teachers, students and parents filled the board of education's meeting room and petitioned school board members to renew the five-year contract the Challenge Charter Academy charter school.

With charter schools in the forefront of Georgia's state conscious, we urge the board to closely look at our charter's school performance to determine whether the school deserves a long-term renewal.

The support from parents, students and teachers would seem to be a positive sign that the school is working well as a partnership, but given this tight economy, the school needs to be supporting its bottom line to justify continued existence.

While the school board makes its decision, we urge you voters out there to really study the larger issue of who should control charter schools so you can make an informed vote on the constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot Nov. 6. Vote wisely, because we can't afford a serious misstep when it comes to educating our children.