Since opening its doors for the 2015-16 school year, LEAD Neely’s Bend Middle School has garnered support from many parents in the Madison area who say the charter school’s approach to education has been beneficial for their children’s academic growth.

Despite the fact that the U.S. Department of Education funnels more than $800 million into Tennessee alone, some leading Republican legislators have signaled support for President-Elect Donald Trump’s promise to eliminate the department altogether.

Schools like Leadership Preparatory Charter School in Memphis and KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary (KACPE) in South Nashville have invested heavily in professional development efforts to better prepare teachers for working with multilingual learners and students from underserved backgrounds.

The charter school operator IOTA Community Schools will continue to run Wooddale Middle School after the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission (TPCSC) voted Thursday to reverse a decision by Memphis-Shelby County Schools leaders to deny their application.

Wooddale Middle School leaders are taking their appeal to state leaders after Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education members recently voted to deny Wooddale’s amended application to transfer into the district from the state-run Achievement School District.

Recent data from the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission (TPCSC) suggests that more work needs to be done to increase English language arts and math proficiency rates within the charter district. However, officials said, TISA funding has led to improvements in proficiency.

Learn more about what the data says.

Despite much opposition from Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) leaders, the charter school sponsor Read Foundation is still pushing for the establishment of a new charter school in the district similar to the foundation’s Memphis School of Excellence.