Madison, Maury Counties Deny American Classical Education Likely Leading To State Charter Commission Appeals

American Classical Education said it would appeal to the charter commission to open a school in Madison, waiting on Maury.

Image Credit: americanclassicalschools.com

By Adam Friedman [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –

For the second time this year, Madison and Maury counties school boards said no to American Classical Education, dealing a minor blow to the charter schools.

American Classical applied to open charters in five Tennessee counties this year, following its denials in three last year. Only the Rutherford County School Board approved the charter school.

School boards in Montgomery and Robertson counties also voted against approving the schools, but American Classical chose only to appeal the local denials in Madison and Maury counties.

This now allows the charter chain to make another appeal, this time to the Tennessee Charter Commission, a nine-member board appointed by Gov. Bill Lee. The board has no elected members, an issue some Republicans and Democrats in the State Legislature have criticized as a way to subvert local control.

Lee is a strong advocate for charter schools, including American Classical Education.

In Madison County, the school board voted 6-1 against American Classical, as school system leaders rallied the community against the charter school based on concerns with its curriculum and financial implications for the district’s budget.

In Maury County, the vote was more divided, with the board denying the charter by a 6-5 vote.

Many of those in favor of the school called on the Maury board to approve it to maintain local control, fearing the state charter commission would overturn the local decision no matter what.

The pro-American Classical advocates argued it was better for the school board to remain in control by approving the school instead of allowing the charter commission to approve and potentially run it.

Marlina Ervin, a Maury County School board member, said the losing-control argument didn’t matter, because even if the board decided to close the school in the future, they could appeal to the state then.

“If we approve them and they are not the performers that we hope, then we are going to go through the exact same thing to get rid of them,” said Ervin during a school board meeting on July 27. “We are ultimately at the state’s mercy either way.”

The Maury County denial dragged on for over a week after an absence of two members left the board deadlocked at a meeting in mid-July. The board voted 5-4 to approve the charter but needed six votes for any decision.

Board chair Michael Fulbright, who voted in favor of the American Classical school, rescheduled the meeting so the two absent board members could attend.

Fulbright’s decision angered many American Classical supporters because the school would automatically go through if the board didn’t vote to explicitly deny the charter by July 28.

“I could have played politics here, but I won’t,” Fulbright said during the meeting.

Following both denials, Chris Burger of Rotunda Public Affairs and American Classical board member Dolores Gresham issued press releases decrying the decisions.

In Madison County, the release said they would file an appeal to the charter commission, but were still evaluating their options in Maury County.

“We stand with the hundreds of Maury County families that have voiced their desire for a tuition-free public school option with a classical curriculum,” Gresham said in the release.

*Note: This article was edited for length and style by The Tennessee Conservative per The Tennessee Lookout’s republishing guidelines.