Phil Andrews

Phil Andrews, President and CEO. Phil Andrews founded Charter School Solutions in February 2007 after serving for 5 years as the Executive Director of the Georgia Charter Schools Association (GCSA). Phil has primary responsibility for all of Charter School Solutions’ advocacy and consulting services.

As Executive Director of GCSA Phil worked extensively with dozens of charter school petitioners and operators in Georgia to help them create and operate highly successful charter schools. He successfully lobbied for many improvements to Georgia’s charter school law and regulations and, in the process, became a leading expert on Georgia’s charter school law and the related regulations.

Phil’s involvement with charter schools began in the late 1990s as part of the successful effort to start the Neighborhood Charter School (NCS) in Atlanta, Georgia. He served as the Chairman of the Neighborhood Charter School Board from July 2000 through September 2002. In that role he oversaw the completion and submission of the final charter petition, negotiated the final charter contract that was approved and signed by Atlanta Public Schools and the Georgia Board of Education, and lead the effort – along with the school’s founding principal, founding board, and numerous committees – to transform the approved charter document into an operating charter school. In addition to serving on and chairing the Founding Board, Phil served on the Development, Finance, and Personnel Committees at various times.

After the successful launch of the Neighborhood Charter School, Phil joined with another group of local parents to focus on extending the NCS model to middle school. As that effort progressed Phil served as co-Chair of the Founding Committee for the Atlanta Charter Middle School (ACMS) which opened in August of 2005. In that role Phil lead the effort to solicit community input and support, write the charter petition, and negotiate the final charter contract.  Both NCS and ACMS continued to operate separately for several years with high levels of student achievement while serving two of the most diverse student populations in the city of Atlanta.  Then, in 2011, the two schools merged to form the Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School as a single, K-8 school.  Phil was involved in this process as well – this time in his professional capacity as a consultant with Charter School Solutions.

In addition to his experiences with GCSA and as the co-founder of two successful charter schools in Atlanta, Phil has served on several state and national education committees and working groups including:

  • Charter Friends National Network Initiative on Facilities Financing.
  • National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Public Policy Working Group.
  • National Alliance for Public Charter Schools National Legal Initiative.
  • National Alliance for Public Charter Schools State Services Committee.
  • 2006 National Charter Schools Conference Planning Committee.
  • Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education Board of Directors.
  • Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education Best Practices Committee.

That combination of experiences has lead to numerous opportunities to speak on various charter school issues. Phil has been interviewed for charter school stories in many newspapers and periodicals including the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta Magazine, Atlanta Parent, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, CNN Online, Education Week, and the Fulton County Daily Report, among others. Phil’s appearances and speaking engagements have included:

  • Legislative Education Policy Committee (joint) of the Kansas Legislature; November, 2007.
  • National Charter Schools Conference; Albuquerque, New Mexico; April, 2007.
  • “Achieving Excellence: Inside Georgia Schools”, Georgia Public Broadcasting’s monthly education talk show; October 2006 episode on charter schools.
  • “Education Forum”, Radio Sandy Springs weekly education talk show; April 26, 2006.
  • National Charter Schools Conference; Sacramento, California; March, 2006.
  • “Storyline”, WTBS television news magazine; February 26, 2005 episode on charter schools.
  • The South Carolina Association of Public Charter Schools annual conference; Columbia, South Carolina; June, 2003.
  • Diversity in the 21st Century Conference co-sponsored by The Georgia Project and the Georgia Association of Educators; Dalton, Georgia; November, 2002.
  • Charter school briefing for Congressional staff members; Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.; April, 2002.
  • Various sub-committee meetings of the House and Senate Education Committees of the Georgia General Assembly.
  • Numerous presentations at various Georgia Charter Schools Association Conferences and Seminars.
  • Presentations for several community and business organizations around Georgia as well as in other states.

Before getting involved with charter schools, Phil worked as a litigation attorney in Atlanta for ten years. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Messiah College in 1987 and his Juris Doctor from Wake Forest University in 1990. Phil lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Kathy and their three children.