State Commission sides with charter schools most of the time but isn’t a rubber stamp

This fall a little-known state board could play a huge role in expanding school choice options for parents across the state.The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission will decide the appeals of thirteen potential new public charter schools who all were previously denied by their local school boards. The number of appeals marks a substantial increase in the board’s oversight as it has only decided three new start appeals total in its entire existence.The Tennessee General Assembly established the Charter Commission in 2019 to hear new start, revocation, and renewal charter school appeals from across the state. It also serves as an authorizer to any charter schools that it authorizes upon appeal. Prior to its existence the Tennessee State Board of Education handled public charter school appeals.The Charter Commission is composed of 9 members including three from each of Tennessee’s Grand Divisions. All members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly.The slate of appeals those 9 members will begin hearing next week is noteworthy not just because there are so many but also because they’re coming from outside Tennessee’s four major cities and they include the charter network American Classical Education that’s attracted widespread criticism.American Classical Education has ties to Michigan’s Hillsdale College, and it initially tried to establish charter schools in Montgomery, Madison, and Rutherford counties.  Those applications failed in each following controversial statements by Hillsdale President Larry Arnn that were captured on hidden video and broadcast by News Channel 5 in Nashville.“The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.” said Arnn in that video.Arnn’s comments prompted outrage from a number of education and political leaders across the state.The Jackson Madison County School Board even passed a resolution condemning the comments during the same meeting where the board voted down American Classical Education’s application.“I thought the comments that he made were very offensive, and I was personally offended because I teach in a school of education. I did not appreciate what he had to say,” said Jackson Madison County School Board member Dr. Ken Newman.

Charter Opponents Critical of the Charter Commission

The Charter Commission itself has also faced criticism in recent months from charter school opponents and school boards who have seen denied appeals reversed. Some have questioned whether the Charter Commission will essentially serve as a rubber stamp for future charters who’ve been turned down by local boards, including American Classical Education.“My concern is of course that our power as elected officials is being taken,” said Metro Nashville Public Schools Board Member Rachael Elrod at a July meeting. “The decision makers are not the people that are supposed to be in charge of our school system but instead an unelected unregulated commission that creates their own regulations.”The Charter Commission’s voting history tells a more complex story.  The board usually sides with public charter schools during appeals, but not always.Charter Commission members have heard seven appeals that deal with either a new start application or a revoked or renewal charter appeal.  Commission members sided with school boards in two of those cases including its lone revocation appeal coming from the Memphis Academy of Health Sciences in April.Memphis Shelby County Schools revoked the charter agreements of the Academy’s middle and high schools following a comptroller report that found a lack of oversight and hundreds of thousands of dollars of misappropriated funds and questionable disbursements.“An authorized charter school is entrusted with significant fiduciary responsibility. It has to protect those funds and has to ensure that those funds are used in the best interests of students and the community,” said Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall in that April meeting. “In the case of Memphis Academy of Health Sciences, the record clearly shows there was a material violation of the charter agreements and the school failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management.”The Charter Commission also sided with Fayette County Public Schools in a new start appeal from the Academy of the Arts Charter School in 2021.

Tennessee Public Charter School Commission History

The Commission’s history siding with charter schools largely includes appeals from Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

• New start appeals approved
  • 2021- Nashville Classical II, Metro Nashville Public Schools
  • 2021- Rutherford Collegiate Prep, Rutherford County Schools

• Renewal appeals approved
  • 2021 Purpose Prep Academy, Metro Nashville Public Schools
  • 2021 Smithson Craighead Academy, Metro Nashville Public Schools
  • 2022 KA @ The Crossings, Metro Nashville Public Schools

The decision to side with the renewal appeal from KA @ The Crossings and against Metro Nashville Public Schools is the most recent and perhaps most publicized.In that appeal, Knowledge Academies was denied a renewal for it’s Knowledge Academy Middle School and requested consolidating its three charter schools under the KA @ The Crossings charter.MNPS board members voted against that request but were ultimately overruled by the Charter Commission.In that June meeting, Commission members highlighted a failure by MNPS to provide a required renewal performance report to the charter school operator as part of the charter renewal application process and a lack of evidence of to justify denying Knowledge Academies’ request.“My advice to Metro Nashville is to quit playing games, communicate with your schools, make sure they have the information.  If there is a legitimate concern with a school, we will hear that.” said Charter Commissioner Eddie Smith. “Quit discriminating on these public schools just because you don’t like them.”The appeals the Charter Commission will begin hearing in September include four appeals involving Metro Nashville Public Schools, along with appeals from two charter applications Montgomery and Shelby County, and appeals from charter applications in Sumner, Madison, Rutherford, Fayette, and Williamson County. Public hearings will begin September 7 for KIPP Southeast Nashville College Prep Elementary & Middle Charter School and the Tennessee Nature Academy.Commission members will decide all charter appeals in October.