Financial questions raised for proposed high-quality nature-based charter school

The Tennessee Nature Academy aims to be Middle-Tennessee’s first nature-based public charter school but it’s a different type of green that could cause challenges at next week’s appeal hearing with the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall issued a recommendation against the academy’s appeal, citing a lack of documentation about how the school would acquire the necessary funds to operate and its proposed reliance on per pupil revenue by year three of operation.“The internal leadership team currently lacks sufficient financial expertise to oversee and manage the school from pre-opening through opening. Although the sponsor stated an intent to engage an outside vendor for financial management, I have outstanding questions about the delegation of daily financial responsibilities,” said Stovall. “One of the primary reasons that charter schools fail or run into trouble is issues with financial oversight, and there is currently a lack of evidence within the record to give me confidence that the proposed school team is fully prepared to manage the significant financial responsibilities for the school.”The academy is part of the last round of appeals the commission is hearing this year from proposed charter schools that were denied by their local board of education. Commissioners voted to overturn two charter application denials last week while upholding a third and they are scheduled to decide the Tennessee Nature Academy’s appeal on October 18.Controversial DenialMetro Nashville Public Schools board members narrowly voted down the Tennessee Nature Academy’s application last July. School leaders applied to serve up to 684 middle and high schoolers in southeast Davidson County with a high-quality project-based learning model that takes students beyond the classroom.The 5 to 4 vote against the academy’s application came with controversy.Tennessee Nature Academy administrators argue board members didn’t receive an accurate report on their application from the charter evaluation team.  They claim the district’s charter review team made 18 incorrect statements in the recommendation against the application including findings administrators say incorrectly portray their ability to provide adequate funding, pupil-teacher ratios, Algebra I for 8th graders, student achievement gap solutions, and accessibility for students with disabilities among other needs.In her recommendation, Stovall sided with the academy’s argument that its academic plan does meet standards even though she ultimately recommended against approval because of financing.“The sponsor put forth a strong academic model and plan aligned with its mission. There is clear community support for this unique model, and the sponsor has a robust plan to serve special populations,” said Stovall. “As strong as I believe the evidence is presented in the academic and operations sections of the amended application for Tennessee Nature Academy, I am left with questions regarding the financial plan and capacity.”Stovall’s recommendation will be considered by the full commission when it decides whether to approve or deny Oxton Academy’s appeal.In its short history, the commission has generally voted in alignment with the recommendations of its Executive Director on new start appeals. The lone exception was an appeal last year from Rutherford Collegiate Prep that Stovall recommended against, but the commission granted.