Metro Nashville Public Schools accused of misusing the law to make it impossible for new public charter schools to receive approval

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) did something different this year when school board members voted to deny three applications to open new public charter schools.The district presented an estimated cost each proposed school would create for MNPS if approved, with public dollars following students leaving traditional public schools for a new public charter school.For the proposed Nashville Collegiate Prep High School, the estimated cost would eventually grow to roughly $6 million a year and board members referenced that loss as one reason for their decision to deny the application.Nashville Collegiate supporters appealed to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission whose members have the option of overturning local district denials and Monday the commission hosted a public hearing where school supporter, attorney Tom Lee, attacked the rationale behind the fiscal cost estimate.Lee says the MNPS is misusing a state law allowing fiscal impact to be considered in charter decisions because the law only allows a district to deny a charter application if it creates a substantial financial cost. He says MNPS’ interpretation would basically make it impossible for any proposed public charter school to receive approval.“Six million dollars is less than two-thirds of one percent of the MNPS $1.1 billion budget for the current fiscal year. It is an impact but respectfully we submitted is not a substantial impact,” said Lee. “If MNPS’ formula is in fact a substantial fiscal impact, then this commission and indeed a local school district could not charter any schools.”At Monday’s meeting, MNPS board chair Rachel Ann Elrod defended the decision to use fiscal impact in the decision saying the dollars lost and fixed costs associated with approving a public charter school are real.“Our district is drowning inside of fixed costs and these are expenses such as maintenance, staffing, transportation, (and) utilities. Fixed costs are a district’s responsibility and (we) receive no state assistance for them so increasing our fixed costs jeopardizes our district’s ability to adequate and equitable opportunities for all of our students,” said Elrod.MNPS staff also made the case against Nashville Collegiate Prep’s academic qualifications to open a school.Organizations ReThink Forward Inc. and the Noble Education Initiative would partner to oversee the proposed high school that would be an extension of the existing Nashville Collegiate Prep elementary and middle school in southeast Davidson County.MNPS attorney Rachel Suppe told the commission the existing partnership has produced a lower performing school than the district overall, pointing out the state recently classified Nashville Collegiate Prep as a Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) Level 3 school for academic growth while the district overall is a Level 5.“Nashville Collegiate Prep already operates a K-5 school and that school is underperforming,” said Suppe. “It should come as no surprise that a middle school that is already struggling, struggled to put together a strong plan to open a high school.”Suppe didn't mention that 7 of the 9 traditional public schools in the Cane Ridge zone where Nashville Collegiate Prep sits also failed to reach a TVAAS Level 5 and Lee further pushed back on the comparison by pointing out the public charter school's state testing performance.Nashville Collegiate Prep’s middle-school students outperformed the district on recent Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) testing in 5 of 6 grade levels for math and English language arts.  Lee says the leadership behind the proposed high school has a lengthy history of that type of success.“I don’t know of anybody else who’s come to operate a charter high school in Nashville, with all due respect to the charter operators in our community, I don’t know anybody else who’s brought that kind of success in a comparable market to bear,” said Lee.The proposed high school also received support at the hearing from multiple parents of existing Nashville Collegiate Prep students including Chuck Grimes.Grimes started his daughter in first grade at Nashville Collegiate Prep and would like the option of keeping her in the program through high school.“In the short time that we’ve been an NCP family we’ve been very impressed by the community that they have built, the learning communities that they run grade level by grade level, the academic support and rigor that they encourage,” said Grimes. “In some subjects they’ve already got my daughter working on a third-grade level though she be in first grade,”Commissioners also heard from Michelle Bonds who has three sons who attend Nashville Collegiate Prep.  She says the proactive education model has paid dividends.“They have all blossomed in the environment that they we offer at our school,” said Bonds. “The growth that I’ve seen my third grader make from coming from an MNPS school into this school warms my heart.”The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission is scheduled to vote on Nashville Collegiate Prep High School’s appeal next month.