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Gov. Bill Lee is pushing for a major revision to Tennessee charter school law to create ways for operators to bypass their local elected school boards and apply directly to a state commission for authorization.
The legislature’s Republican majority leaders have filed a bill on behalf of Lee’s administration to create three new pathways for charter school operators to seek approval from the state:
- Beginning July 1, any school board whose decision to deny a charter application is overturned by the state three times within three years could be bypassed, allowing a charter operator to apply directly to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission for authorization during the next five years.
- Public colleges and universities could apply to the state commission to open a charter school for K-12 students.
- An operator with at least one charter school that is authorized by a local school board or the state commission and that has been operational for at least one year could apply either to the local district or state commission to replicate its model to create one or more charter schools.
If the Republican governor’s bill passes the GOP-controlled legislature, the measure could further dilute local control over Tennessee’s charter sector, while giving the powerful 4-year-old commission even more authority to open and close publicly funded but independently controlled charter schools.
The commission, whose nine members are appointed by the governor, already has significantly expanded its footprint through an appellate process that allows the state to authorize and open charter schools when overturning a local board’s application denial. Another law allows better-performing charter schools in the state’s Achievement School District turnaround program to transfer to the state commission’s oversight, rather than returning to their home district.
The charter commission now oversees 25 charters, including seven that are scheduled to open in the next two years and one transferring from the ASD. Most are in urban Davidson and Shelby counties, but a few operate in suburban Madison and Rutherford counties.
Three of the schools were previously overseen by the state Board of Education before the state commission took over its charter responsibilities in 2021 under a 2019 law initiated by Lee.
The governor, who is one of the nation’s biggest charter advocates, pushed to create the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to ensure that high-quality charter schools can open and ineffective ones are closed.
He initially wanted to give the new body the power to bypass local school boards altogether and open new charter schools directly. But he agreed to limit the commission’s authority after district leaders expressed outrage to their legislators about any measure that would circumvent local education control.
The commission has not been a rubber stamp for opening charter schools. Since it began hearing appeals in 2021, the panel has sided with local school boards on half of their application denials.
However, the latest legislative proposal, if approved, would move the state closer to Lee’s original vision for the commission.
The first proposed pathway — allowing operators to bypass local boards if their denials have been repeatedly overturned — is viewed by charter advocates as an incentive for school boards to take their charter authorization process seriously.
“This bill supports fairness, transparency, and high standards for Tennessee’s successful public charter school community, upholding local input while ensuring districts fulfill their responsibilities,” said Elizabeth Lane Johnson, the governor’s press secretary.
Charter critics, meanwhile, characterize it as a way to pressure school boards into approving charter applications.
While districts would begin with a clean slate on July 1, a review of the last three years of the commission’s appellate decisions shows that Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, in Davidson County, has had the most denials overturned by the state, followed by Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
Asked about the proposed changes to the state’s charter school law, a spokesman for Nashville’s school system said district officials do not typically comment publicly on pending legislation.
In Memphis, school board Chair Joyce Dorse Coleman told Chalkbeat that leaders of Memphis-Shelby County Schools are “carefully monitoring” the bill.
The Tennessee School Boards Association did not respond to Chalkbeat’s request for comment.
Tennessee charter growth has been nurtured by out-of-state groups
In all, Tennessee has about 115 charter schools, most authorized locally by the board for Memphis-Shelby County Schools, with a total statewide enrollment of about 44,000 students, according to the Tennessee Charter School Center. Under a 2002 state law, Tennessee’s first three charter schools opened in Chattanooga, Memphis, and Nashville in 2003.
Along with funding from several Tennessee-based foundations, the state has seen an influx of money from out-of-state philanthropic groups to promote and support the sector’s growth in Tennessee. They include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Charter School Growth Fund, and the City Fund. (The City Fund’s partners include two prominent figures in Tennessee education: Chris Barbic, founding superintendent of the charter-centric Achievement School District, and Dorsey Hopson, founding superintendent of the merged Memphis-Shelby County Schools district.)
Much of the money is distributed through the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, or SCORE, a nonpartisan education advocacy and research organization founded by former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist in 2009. (Among SCORE’s grant recipients is the Memphis Education Fund, whose president and CEO, Terence Patterson, is a member of the state charter school commission.)
In its most recent report outlining SCORE’s goals for 2030, the organization listed three recommendations to bolster the state’s charter sector, including one to expand pathways for authorization to open new schools.
“The General Assembly should update state law to allow charter school operators to consolidate under a single authorizer when seeking renewal with schools under multiple authorizers,” the report said. “Further, the state should allow existing high-performing charter schools seeking to replicate and new charter schools seeking to meet a critical workforce need to choose their authorizer.”
The Tennessee Charter School Center also supports the governor’s legislative proposal, said CEO Elizabeth Fiveash.
“We appreciate the fact that the legislation continues to provide districts the first opportunity to review charter school applications,” Fiveash said, “but also provides increased accountability for districts that don’t meet their authorizing obligations.”
You can read the bill here and track its movement on the General Assembly’s website.
Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.
