State Senators Jessie Seal (left) and Tom Hatcher (right) (Photos by the Tennessee General Assembly)¶
Last April, State Senators Jessie Seal, R-New Tazewell, and Tom Hatcher, R-Blount County, joined 25 other Republican Senators in helping pass legislation to reform the approval process for public charter schools.¶
The legislation was designed to streamline the process, and it additionally made it easier for charter operators to replicate an existing school model that has proved successful. Under the new legislation, charter operators that have at least one school operating under the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission would have the option of applying directly to the commission to open a similar school in the same area, instead of applying to the local school district first.¶
The commission currently oversees two dozen public charter schools across the state.¶
“It’s much more streamlined, the application, in terms of if you are ready to open another school in the same focus,” said Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall.¶
By law, members of the Tennessee General Assembly must still sign off on this new “replication rule,” and Stovall made those comments while requesting approval during Thursday’s Joint Government Operations Committee meeting.¶
The replication rule was expected to pass the Senate Government Operations Committee easily, as 7 of 9 members voted in favor of the initial legislation. Instead, with multiple members absent, Seal and Hatcher joined Democrats on the committee who opposed the initial legislation, giving the rule a negative recommendation.¶
No Explanation Provided for Change of Heart¶
Neither senator gave any indication for why their opinion on the issue has shifted against providing a more streamlined process for what’s essentially one of the state’s highest-performing school districts.¶
The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission oversees charters it approves on appeal, and 56 percent of them received either an A or B grade on the state’s recently released School Letter Grades.¶
The Department of Education additionally named the commission as an Exemplary district for high performance in the 2024-25 school year.¶
What Happens Next¶
The House Government Operations Committee also gave a negative recommendation to the replication rule by voice vote. Much like its Senate counterpart, multiple members who supported the legislation last April were absent for the vote on Thursday.¶
The designation of a “negative recommendation” means the lawmakers will now vote on whether to authorize the “replication rule” for the commission in separate amendments in both the House and Senate later in the legislative session.¶
One public charter school operator has already applied to utilize this “replication rule” to open a new school. Libertas School of Memphis is currently serving students in grades K-7, and its leaders have applied to the commission to open a high school.¶
A Tennessee Firefly analysis of the most recent State Report Card found Libertas outperformed every district-run middle school in the Memphis-Shelby County School Board District 3 in every subject on state tests. Libertas additionally outperformed 11 of the 12 district-run elementary schools in the area on every subject.¶
The public charter school received a B on the most recent School Letter Grades. Just one elementary school in the region received a higher grade.¶
