State Board of Education critiques Nashville’s history of denying public charter schools

Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education meeting room (Photo by MNPS)

Last October the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education saw three of its decisions related to public charter schools overturned by a state commission.

Members of the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission unanimously voted that board members wrongfully denied applications earlier in the year for Nurses Middle College, LEAD Southeast Elementary School, and Encompass Community School. Commissioners also overturned board decisions against Rocketship Nashville Northwest in early 2024 and Invictus Nashville Charter School in 2023. 

Now each of those decisions is costing the district points on a state evaluation.

The Tennessee State Board of Education released evaluations this month for how well three local education agencies (LEA) are overseeing public charter schools. The five overturned decisions contributed to MNPS earning just a “satisfactory” score.

 “While decisions related to its new charter applications and a renewal for the selected schools document the authorizer considering evidence, data and expertise provided by its review teams, the decisions were made without clearly stated approval criteria or consideration of the complete body of evidence,” wrote SBA evaluators. “Additionally, five (5) of the authorizer’s eight (8) authorizing decisions (seven new charter applications and one renewal application) that were appealed to the appellate body during the review term were overturned due to evidence demonstrating that the schools were likely to result in positive student outcomes.”

Tennessee State Board of Education evaluators did give MNPS credit for making “positive improvements” to its agreements with charter schools that better align with state authorizing standards.

The bi-annual evaluations are required under state law to “ensure the effective operation of all authorizers and assess authorizer quality in Tennessee” according to a news release sent to the Tennessee Firefly. Authorizers that receive an “unsatisfactory/incomplete” rating are required to participate in another authorizer evaluation in the school year immediately following the rating.

Authorizers can earn an overall rating on a scale from zero to four, with score ranges indicating unsatisfactory/incomplete (0-.99), approaching satisfactory (1.00 –1.99), satisfactory (2.00-2.99,) commendable (3.00-3.99), and exemplary designations (3.50-4.00). 

MNPS scored just under “commendable” with a 2.9 score.  The other LEAs evaluated this cycle include the Achievement School District that also received a “satisfactory” score of 2.19, and the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission that received an “exemplary” score of 3.76.

“Charter authorizer evaluations are designed to provide valuable feedback and hold authorizers accountable to our state’s quality authorizing standards,” said State Board of Education Executive Director Dr. Sara Morrison “The priority with this robust evaluation is to reflect on achievements and progress made towards creating experiences for student success.”