House committee advances bill to let public charter schools prioritize serving at-risk students

Members of the House Administration Committee advanced legislation Wednesday designed to help provide at-risk students with more accessibility to public charter schools.The legislation gives public charter schools the option of providing preference to students who are economically disadvantaged, including homeless, migrants, in foster care, runaways, and those eligible for free and reduce lunches.State data shows just 19 percent of economically disadvantaged students are reading at grade level and only 14 percent are meeting math expectations. Economically disadvantaged students attending public charter schools have found success improving their academic performance in recent state testing.The legislation advanced on a voice vote following a lengthy discussion about what impact if any, it might have on undocumented immigrants.The legislation was written to align with state and federal code that describes what students qualify as economically disadvantaged. Oak Ridge Representative John Ragan objected to listing “migrants” as an option for public charter schools to give a preference to.“I do not believe that we should be giving migrants, those that are here illegally, who have violated our laws, or their parents have violated our laws to bring em here, preference over anybody,” said Ragan.Elizabeth Fiveash with the Tennessee Charter School Center told legislators that shouldn’t be a concern as public charter schools don’t have visibility into a student’s immigration status. Fiveash says the legislation only allows a preference for economically disadvantaged students as current state and federal law define that student category.“It is not creating a new definition, those students would already qualify under another section of code actually under the TISA (Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement) legislation that you all passed, so it’s only referencing statue that already exists,” said Fiveash.The legislation additionally adds a 25% cap for out-of-district enrollment in public charter schools where that’s allowed, and it adds new accountability to the charter application process.  Under the bill, school boards would be required to review all other existing schools a charter organization runs, in addition to the proposed school, when considered charter applications.The full Senate approved the legislation last month and it now head to the full House.