A short-handed Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) Board of Education chose an unexpected path in the public charter school approval process Tuesday night. With several members absent, the board voted to support a proposed public charter school that failed to pass multiple reviews while denying others the district itself rated higher.

Four proposed public charter schools may face a tougher road to finding approval in Memphis.The Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) charter review team is recommending school board members deny applications from every proposed public charter school this year, including Pathways in Education, CHANGE Academy, Empower Memphis Career and College Prep, and the Tennessee Career Academy.

School board members with Memphis-Shelby County Schools denied all five applications for new public charter schools with one vote Tuesday.The board opted to follow the recommendation of the district review committee and vote down applications by Empower Memphis Career and College Prep, Grizzlies Prep STEAM School for Girls, Pathways in Education, the CHANGE Academy and the Tennessee Career Academy.

Education organization Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) announced a new resource Thursday to provide parents and local school districts with more information about public charter schools that are applying to open in their communities.The organization’s Quality Charter Review will present an analysis of new start charter school applications in Tennessee to evaluate their academic plan design, operations plan, and financial plan. Each review will provide an overall recommendation for or against the application along with suggestions for improvements.