Senate Education Committee advances legislation to make it easier for public charter schools to seek approval

Senate committee room (Photo by Sky Arnold)

Under current Tennessee law, organizations that want to open a new public charter school must first seek approval through their local school board.

This year potential charter operators have filed 11 applications for new schools in 5 school districts. Each school board is required follow the same state guidelines to determine whether the applications warrant approval, but Senator Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun, told members of the Senate Education Committee Wednesday that some school boards ignore those state guidelines when denying new charters.

Senator Adam Lowe (Photo by the Tennessee General Assembly)

“We’re making these adjustments because we do have people who do not act in good faith when it comes to charter applications. This is a way to make sure we have that check,” said Lowe.

Lowe is co-sponsoring legislation supported by Governor Bill Lee, that’s designed to take politics out of the approval process and make it easier for some charter schools to receive approval.

Currently, charter operators who believe they were wrongfully denied at the local school board level have the option of appealing to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, but that process costs months of valuable planning time and has played a part in some charter schools delaying their opening day.

Lowe’s legislation would allow charter applicants the ability to apply directly to the charter commission if they want to open a school in a district that has had three charter denials overturned in three years. The charter commission’s “direct authorization” would be in effect for the district for up to five years under the bill.

In its history, the charter commission has upheld exactly the same number of denials as it has overturned. Metro Nashville Public Schools has made up more than 60 percent of those overturned decisions including three last year, and is the only district that has had three overturned decisions in three straight years.

Representative Lowe’s bill would additionally provide the charter commission with new flexibility to renew charters every 5 years instead of every ten and allow charter operators who want to replicate an existing academic model and public colleges and universities the ability to apply directly to the commission.

Governor Lee’s Policy Director Michael Hendrix told the Senate Education Committee that his office included institutions of higher learning in the legislation after looking at other states’ policies.

“We looked at best practices from across the country, and there are at least a dozen states nationwide, all across the country, off all different backgrounds, that allow public institutions of higher education to be able to at least try to create a charter school, or at least apply and have that chance and we wanted to be able to bring that opportunity here to Tennessee,” said Hendrix.

Members of the Senate Education Committee voted 7 to 2 in favor of advancing the bill with only Senators Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, and Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, opposing it.

The House Education Commission is expected to take up its version of the legislation next week.