School districts across the state have property they’re not using. A new bill aims to help public charter schools use them.

When Nashville Classical Charter School first opened a decade ago it, founder Charlie Friedman says the school truly benefitted from a supportive mayor who enabled it to establish in an unoccupied former Head Start building.The school later utilized a similar opportunity with the vacant Bailey Middle School building in East Nashville to expand and serve more students.Not every public charter school has the same facility support from elected leaders and school districts that Nashville Classical had and Friedman told an audience in Nashville that students are the ones who suffer when public charter schools are denied access to adequate facilities.“The reality is the kids who attend our schools are more likely to be black or Hispanic in a city like Nashville. They’re more likely to be economically disadvantaged and at the end of the day they’re oftentimes getting less than they should and less than they deserve,” said Friedman.State Representative Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, filed a bill that aims to help.Williams’s bill would require local school districts that have public charter schools in them to provide a list of vacant and underutilized buildings on an annual basis.  Under the bill, school districts would additionally be required to make those properties available to public charter schools at a fair market value and give charters a first right of refusal for either purchase or lease.“There are school buildings that are currently vacant or underutilized, in some cases abandoned across this state, but often to access these buildings becomes extremely difficult for charter schools to be able to utilize those buildings. Sometimes it’s virtually impossible,” said Williams.The “facilities challenge” has become a major concern for public charter school leaders across the state in recent years and it’s believed the problem will only grow as more families chose to send their children to these schools.A report by organization ExcelinEd found current state funding is only meeting 50 percent of charter facilities needs and this gap is expected to grow to just 42 percent of facility needs met in five years. Improving access to underutilized facilities could cover 13 percent of that funding gap.Williams’ bill passed the House K-12 Subcommittee with just one objection Tuesday.  The Senate Education Committee is taking it up today.