Proposed public charter schools have not found an easy road to approval in Tennessee this year.
Local school boards approved just two charter applications, American Classical Academy-Rutherford and the Tennessee Career Academy in Memphis. School board members in Shelby, Davidson, Madison, Montgomery, Robertson, and Maury County denied every other application to open a new public charter school in their communities this year.
Six of those applicants are appealing to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission beginning this week. Commissioners have the option of overturning charter application denials and members did just that with three high-quality applications in Nashville last year.
The appeals this year include two applicants from Memphis, two from Nashville, and two from American Classical Education. Over the next three and a half weeks, supporters of each will have the opportunity to speak at public hearings on the appeals.
Pathways in Education – Memphis
Pathways in Education (PIE) aims to serve Memphis students with a unique flexible hybrid schedule that’s designed to serve at-risk students, specifically those who have dropped out. PIE believes the model will especially benefit a growing number of students who are more than two years off their target graduation date.
The organization currently operates eight public charter schools across the country and previously oversaw a public charter school in Memphis under the state’s Achievement School District from 2014 to 2022.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education voted down PIE’s amended application last month.
“Approving Pathways In Education- Memphis will be one more way to give students another opportunity to earn a high school diploma. In addition to the diploma, the PIE-Memphis staff will also help students create a concrete plan for next steps after high school. This is a win-win for both the students and Memphis community,” wrote PIE to the Commission.
Empower Memphis
Memphis-Shelby County School Board members also voted down Empower Memphis Career and College Prep despite the district itself finding the application met all state requirements.
Empower Memphis would serve K-8 students in Orange Mound and South Memphis with a career and technical education model (CTE) designed to provided students with academic and technical skills for careers through hands-on training and experience.
“The approval of Empower Memphis is in the best interest of the students, community, and MSCS. We met or exceeded expectations in all categories of the charter application rubric based on MSCS Office of the Charter School review process, we obtained support from families, community members, local organizations and businesses, and we are proposing an innovative model that could potentially transform the cycle of generational poverty for the students and families within the Orange Mound and South Memphis communities. If approved, we believe that Empower Memphis will be the catalyst to bridging the socio-economic gap, offering a more promising and self-sustaining future for the communities of Memphis, TN. We appreciate your consideration,” wrote the Empower Memphis Founding Team.
Invictus Nashville
Former Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) graduate Dr. Brenda Jones is hoping to make history by being the first MNPS grad to create a public charter school in Nashville. Her proposed K-8 Invictus Nashville Charter School would serve the Donelson and Hermitage area of Davidson County with an innovative Montessori curriculum and mentoring model.
School board members denied Invictus after district reviewers determined the application failed to meet financial and operational requirements. Invictus supporters are pushing back on that determination with their appeal to the commission.
“The Invictus Nashville team believes that we have met the expectations of the rubric (requirement). As we have stayed abreast of the changes in the educational landscape, we have been intentional with reasonable enrollment targets, a facility that will allow growth, a conservative budget for sustainability, and partnerships to support licensure requirements for Montessori teachers,” wrote Invictus’ team.
Nashville Collegiate Prep High School
Nashville Collegiate Prep High School aims to cater to the growth of Southeast Nashville in Davidson County.
The school would eventually serve up to 600 students in grades 9-12 with unique pathways in art and technology, with a target focus on a large at-risk population of students.
MNPS board members voted the application down unanimously following a denial recommendation from district reviewers.
“The main impetus behind the NCPHS application is to offer parents and students a K-12 school choice option that offers high quality educational opportunities for all students while developing close relationships with families that will be sustained and strengthened throughout the years a student attends our schools. Our NCPHS students will attend school in a brand new, state-of-the-art building, with a curriculum that not only is rigorous, but designed to offer academic pathways not present in any other MNPS school. As presented, the curriculum meets Tennessee academic and graduation standards,” wrote ReThink Forward Chairman Dr. Dan Boone.
ACE Maury and ACE Jackson-Madison
American Classical Education (ACE) initially applied to open schools in five different Tennessee counties. School board members voted four down and the organization is appealing denials in Maury County and Madison County.
Jackson-Madison County School Board members gave 74 reasons for their vote to deny the application. The proposed American Classical Academy – Maury faced a closer vote with school board members in Maury County narrowly voting down the amended application by one vote.
Neither Maury County nor Madison County have a public charter school currently.
“Our model of education is tried and true. It has produced encouraging results wherever it has been applied. It is supported by a growing network of schools, administrators, faculties, and communities. And most importantly, its establishment in Maury County aligns with the worthy purpose of the Commission’s championing of humane quality and dignity through the expansion of educational opportunity,” wrote ACE Chair Dolores Gresham.
Members of the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission will hear from the public on the appeals from Pathways in Education-Memphis and Empower Memphis this week. The commission will then host public hearings in Nashville on September 11, followed by and two hearings for the applications from American Classical Education later this month.
