Coweta County will not have a charter school...yet.

The Board of Education last Friday denied a petition by the Odyssey Group, composed of area parents, to open the county's first charter school in the Thomas Crossroads area. The Odyssey Group was seeking to have more parental control in their children's education and also have a bigger technology focus at the new school.

But the board declined to approve the charter and Superintendent of Education Richard Brooks said the reasons are clear-cut.

"The board felt there was not enough time to get a facility up and running for the next school year," he said.

Brooks added the school system has been working nearly two years on a charter proposal for the county's new Central Technical School and just got the final bugs in the proposal eliminated.

Two years ago, the state legislature approved charter schools for the state. Charter schools give parents and administrators a little more flexibility in devising a curriculum and hiring teachers.