Aarti Sharma

2016 NACSA Leader

Director, Georgia State Department of Education

Aarti Sharma is the Director of the Charter Schools Division at the Georgia State Department of Education, where she works with about 115 charter schools. Prior to working with the Georgia Department of Education, she founded a project in Atlanta providing court-involved youth with special education and school disciplinary legal representation through an Equal Justice Works Fellowship. Aarti started her career in education as a teacher in Liberty City, Miami.

Aarti is an honors graduate of Emory University School of Law, where she worked on the International Law Review.

Most Recent Posts

No Shortcuts to Student Success: The Case for Statewide Annual Assessments

When I think about why I’ve dedicated my career to advancing and strengthening the ideas and practices of authorizing, I think about the students I’ve met over the years—bright, curious...

Raising the Bar: NACSA’s Updated State Policy Recommendations

NACSA believes that strong laws enable strong authorizing. In turn, strong authorizing leads to strong public education outcomes for students, families, and communities. That’s why we regularly update our state...

A New Path Forward: NACSA’s Bold New School Application Guidance

I’ll never forget a foundational principle I learned nearly two decades ago, while authorizing in Indianapolis: It should be hard to gain approval to start a new charter school. But...