Legislation designed to limit the appeal options for public charter schools who’ve had their applications wrongfully denied by school districts, saw a quick exit in the House committee process Tuesday.
Members of the House K-12 Subcommittee voted 6 to 2 against Franklin Representative Sam Whitson’s legislation. It would have prevented proposed public charter schools from appealing denied applications to the Public Charter School Commission if the school district they’re applying in has no priority schools.
Priority schools have been identified by the state for poor academic performance.
“I support the need for charter school when it is determined by the local education authorities. They know best. Just like we don’t like DC telling us how to do business here in Tennessee, I think our local school systems do not like to be told by the state how to do their business,” said Representative Whitson.
Over its two-year history, the Public Charter School Commission has heard appeals from 16 proposed public charter schools that have been denied by their districts and overturned just five of them.
All but one of those overturned denials have come from Nashville where the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education has a lengthy history of being accused of playing politics with its public charter schools and denying high-quality charter applications.
Under Whitson’s legislation, proposed public charter schools in Nashville would have still been able to appeal to the Commission but those in higher performing school districts, like Williamson County Schools, wouldn’t have that option.
The Tennessee Charter School Center opposed Representative Whitson’s legislation and its Chief Policy Officer Elizabeth Fiveash told subcommittee members the appeal process needs to remain intact to give high-quality public charter schools a chance.
Last year school districts across the state only approved one of the two dozen public charter school applications that were filed. The Public Charter School Commission approved another three on appeal.
“They are approving high quality applications that prove that they can serve kids really well,” said Fiveash. “The ideal situation is that the applicant applies to the local school board and it’s approved at the local level and they can work in unison to serve the kids of their shared community but that doesn’t always play out in reality.”
The subcommittee agreed, killing Representative Whitson’s legislation for the year.
House Education Administration Chair Representative Mark White, a close friend of Whitson’s, was among those voting against it. White says removing the appeal option for districts without priority schools could limit opportunities for families who need them.
“There’s a big gap between a priority school and a high performing district. There’s a whole blue sea in between and that’s the whole point of why we have created these options in our state to where something can move in and something is needed, ” said Representative White. “Just because you don’t have a priority school doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be opportunity for possible improvement.”
