Classical Charter School Turned Down By Jackson-Madison School Board Gets Approved By State Charter School Commission

Image Credit: TN Public Charter School Commission / YouTube

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

Another classical charter school was approved last week by the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.

American Classical Education (ACE) appealed the decisions made by Madison and Maury counties to reject ACE’s applications to approve their charter schools in those counties. The commission overturned Jackson-Madison County School Board’s denial in a unanimous vote last Thursday at the recommendation of Tess Stovall, executive director of the charter commission.

When denying ACE’s application in Madison in July, the school board stated that approving the charter school would mean approximately $3.5 million less in funding for public schools in the county. The school district spends roughly $10,500 a year per student. The ACE Madison school is only predicted to serve around 340 children. After looking at the numbers themselves, staff for the commission disagreed with the school board’s financial assessment which said that the district would suffer a “substantial negative fiscal impact” if a charter school were to be approved.

Stovall gave her recommendation in favor of the charter school in Madison due to ACE having a principal already in place and a clear plan for where to locate the school, in contrast to their Maury County application which has neither. Her recommendation for Maury, was to deny, with the board following her advice and voting unanimously to not approve in Maury County.

ACE applied in five counties in the state last year, only to have the local school board in each case deny their applications. An appeal to the Tennessee Charter Commission over those denials was later withdrawn. 

ACE started this year with five applications, four of which were not approved locally. ACE chose not to appeal their applications in Montgomery and Robertson counties. The Madison school is the second ACE charter to get approved after the Rutherford County School Board said yes to a school earlier in 2023. Rutherford County, a suburban area south of Nashville, is seeing a lot of growth with many moving to the county and enrollment at local schools increasing.

Likewise, Jackson-Madison County Schools is also projecting an increase in enrollment of as much as 8% due to the assembly plant being built in Haywood County.

The process for charter school applications has changed over the years. Local school boards, once the sole decision makers on the matter, no longer have final say on whether charter schools get approved. The Tennessee state legislature created the charter commission in 2021 who now reviews appeals and can override local decisions. The commission is made up of a nine-person board, appointed by the governor. The current board members were all appointed by Governor Bill Lee, who is a proponent of adding more charter schools as an educational option in the state.

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.