Rutherford Collegiate Prep opened its doors for the first time to students last Wednesday while American Classical Academy Rutherford and Springs Empower Academy are both opening today.

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission unanimously approved Nashville Collegiate Prep’s request to continue providing students its community classroom model into high school.The K-8 public charter school organizes each grade into a pod of 4 to 5 classes. Throughout the day students switch teachers within the pod based on their specific needs and strengths, providing teachers an opportunity to more directly focus lessons on the areas students might need help in.

State Senators Jon Lundbeg, R-Brisol, and Bill Powers, R-Clarksville, and Representative William Slater, R-Hendersonville, utilized their downtime in between federal education funding hearings Tuesday afternoon to learn more about a unique public charter school that’s about to expand into the suburbs.The three lawmakers toured the campus of the Nashville Collegiate Prep on Bell Road.

Four proposed public charter schools in Memphis, Nashville, and Jackson are all receiving new support from a key state board leader.Tennessee Public Charter School Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall recommended commissioners approve those schools’ appeals at two meetings later this week.

Nashville Collegiate Prep’s (NCP) appeal to open a high school in southeast Davidson County is finding support from those who are still too young to drive. More than a dozen middle and elementary school students submitted handwritten letters to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission in support of the proposed public charter school.“NCP Middle School is already perfect so why not make it ‘perfecter?’” wrote student Aung Du. “Since the school would be bigger, there would be more sports fields. Also, there would be more than just P.E. There would be STEM, art, computer, Robotics, (chorus), etc. I hope you’ll accept to build the high school!”Organizations ReThink Forward Inc. and the Noble Education Initiative would partner to oversee the proposed high school that would serve as an extension of the existing Nashville Collegiate Prep elementary and middle school, but members of the Metro Nashville School Board unanimously voted the application down in July.

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.

School districts across the state received 23 letters of intent this month for applications to open new public charter schools next year. That’s the first step potential charter operators must take before submitting their formal application by February 1, 2023.The letters of intent include proposed schools in four counties that do not currently have public charter schools and they’re coming from both existing charter operators in Tennessee and those who were rejected this year.