Speaker Sexton’s home school charter school proposal sails through subcommittee

Legislators on the Tennessee House K-12 Subcommittee surprisingly approved a major proposal impacting both home school students and public charter schools with no discussion or questions Tuesday night.House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s legislation would create a charter system for home school students to take part in part-time and allow existing public charter schools the ability to create boarding schools to serve at risk students.

Home School Charter Schools

Representative Mark White presented the legislation to subcommittee members on behalf of Speaker Sexton.White says the home school charter schools would be authorized and regulated by the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.Under the proposal, the home school charter school would provide three days of instruction a week and parents would provide instruction during the remaining two days.“This legislation looks to give Tennessee parents options for their children’s education outside of the traditional educational system. It does this by creating high quality education through a charter system for a home school population,” said Representative White.

Public Charter Boarding Schools

The legislation would also provide existing public charter schools with the ability to create boys and girls boarding schools for children in grades 6 through 12.Representative White says the public charter boarding schools would be reserved for those Tennessee students that are at-risk, including economically disadvantaged students along with those who are suffering from abuse and neglect.“Every child deserves access to a safe place to learn and to grow into a productive member of society,” said Representative White. “This is a bill designed to kind of catch those students that are falling through the cracks, at-risk students, with a system of charter schools that can specifically focus on their needs,”Speaker Sexton’s proposal is expected to cost taxpayers $294 thousand to implement during the 2023/2024 and grow to $468 in the 2024/2025 school year.Members of the House Education Administration Committee will vote on it next.