Georgia is among a handful of states leading the nation in adding charter schools.

A report released Wednesday by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools shows the state added 15 new schools this year, boosting the state's charter school enrollment by 7,000 children. That's among the 200,000 new charter school students added this year across the nation.

Georgia now has more than 55,000 students in charter schools.

Charter schools use taxpayer dollars but are given the freedom to determine how they will meet federal education benchmarks. They can be started by groups of parents, community members, businesses or nonprofits.

This year saw the largest enrollment increase since charter schools were founded nearly two decades ago. More than 2 million children attend charter schools across the country.

Tags: charter schools, student enrollment, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools