School officials are working diligently to hire and train teachers and staff, said Lyn Carden, a member of the school's governing body, the Georgia Charter Educational Foundation.
The school has been racing to open for the past month, after it was granted a charter by the Georgia Board of Education and received a funding lifeline from Gov. Nathan Deal.
"It is a new school year and it is a new school," Carden said. "There are going to be some unforeseen challenges. We've scraped, scrambled and fought to get this school and we're looking forward to working with our parents and teachers to face those challenges."
Cherokee Charter Academy has sought 77 staff members, including 57 teachers to work with the school's projected enrollment of 995. Carden could not say how many teachers had been hired so far.
Attempts to reach Cherokee Charter Academy Principal Vanessa Suarez by email were unsuccessful.
The school has yet to connect telephones on its campus on Sixes Road in Canton, Carden said.
In July, the school had an open house for students and parents.
Cherokee Charter Academy is housed in the facility formerly home to American Heritage Academy.
American Heritage Academy lost the property to foreclosure early this year.
"Holy cow, what a train ride it's been," said Canton resident Nick DeAngelo, whose daughter will attend Cherokee Charter Academy as a seventh grader. "Fortunately, now it looks like it's going to happen."
Cherokee Charter Academy was left with a grim future after a May ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court, which struck down the state law that allowed for its charter.
In June, academy officials went back to the Cherokee County Board of Education seeking a charter, but were denied. It was the third time in two years the local school board denied its charter petition.
The school was then granted a charter by the state Board of Education, but the approval cut the school off from much-needed local tax funding. The state commission that originally granted the academy's charter, but was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, would've allowed the school to get a portion of local funding.
The charter school had a first year budget of $7.5 million, including $2.9 million in expected local tax revenue.
That budget gap was filled when Deal pledged last month to give a one-time, $10 million handout to assist charter schools affected by the Supreme Court ruling. Deal has not specified where the funding will come from.
Since the pledge was a one-time commitment, the Cherokee Charter Academy could find itself with the same budget shortfall next year.
Carden said she could no speculate on the future.
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