Maury County residents debate the role religion and school choice would play in proposed American Classical Education public charter school

American Classical Education’s (ACE) appeal to open the first public charter school in Maury County faced a new criticism at Thursday’s public hearing with the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.Maury County resident Jackie Marshall accused the organization of essentially trying to start a religious school on taxpayer dollars through its connections to Michigan-based Hillsdale college.“Hillsdale College is about theology. Considering Hillsdale’s Middle Tennessee Board, which is made up of conservative evangelicals, it worries me that this charter school will become similar to the religious private schools that Maury County has so many of. Keep religion, politics, and a false curriculum out of Maury County Public Schools,” said Marshall.ACE’s connections to Hillsdale College and the controversial statements Hillsdale President Larry Arnn made about teachers played a role in derailing the group’s attempt to open public charter schools last year. ACE has since made moves to distance itself from the college and supporters hoped it might win approval to open public charter schools in five Tennessee counties this year including Maury County.The Maury County School Board voted the application down by a slim one-vote margin in April. ACE appealed to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission whose members have the option of overturning local district denials.Thursday’s public hearing offered an opportunity for both sides to provide input on the appeal.Maury County Schools’ review of ACE’s application found it failed to meet 23 out of 28 requirements set by the Tennessee Department of Education. Additionally, the district found a lack of secured funding and deficits in safety, security, and transportation.Public school teacher Seth Campbell told commissioners these findings raise concerns about the appeal, and he encouraged them to deny it.“As far as academics, standards, and performance are concerned, the application lacks numerous facets of a well-performing school. These include lacking a plan on how student growth can be monitored and regularly measured, not detailing a plan if academic goals are not met, and the privately constructed curriculum not aligning to the state’s standards. These are absolutely central tenants to the public school, and they are all found to be deficient in this application,” said Campbell. “I cannot stress enough the important role these key details play in our day-to-day operations.”ACE supporters pushed back on the criticism, saying Maury County School Board members failed to consider changes the organization made to the application. Supporters also pointed out the school’s application is similar to one school board members in a nearby Tennessee county found met state requirements.“The application before you before you as an academic plan meets the requirements established by the commission. This academic plan has been approved in Rutherford County Schools. It is built on an academic model that’s been in existence for a very long time, as it is formed by the experience of many other classical schools around the country,” said ACE legal counsel Rich Haglund. “It ensures that all students who desire to come here and participate in this classical model are able to do so and really thrive.”Maury County is no stranger to classical education as private school Agathos Classical School has been around for at least a decade. Parents like Andrew Garrett told commissioners that families who can’t afford private school should have the same option to choose a classical education model.“The question I keep returning to is a simple one: are you comfortable with allowing more affluent families to choose their schools while denying poor families similar opportunities? There are some in this room who care deeply about equal educational opportunity but are opposed to school choice. How they fail to see the tension in those two stances is puzzling,” said parent Andrew Garrett.ACE initially applied to open schools in five different Tennessee counties this year. School board members in Rutherford County were the only ones to approve its application.The organization chose to appeal the denials in Maury and Madison Counties and the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission will decide both appeals next month.If commissioners overturn the district’s denial the proposed school would open in the 2025/26 school year at a location in Columbia or central Maury County. It would be the county’s first public charter school.