If state officials want to override the city's school board and approve new charter schools — as happened last week at a hearing in Memphis — the Nashville board members they trumped wonder if perhaps they'd like to go ahead and run them too.
That's among the fallout from the Tennessee State Board of Education's approval of two charter schools initially denied by the Metro Nashville Public School board. That move could find the state taking on the two charters — and possibly fighting a legal battle over their existence.
The most conciliatory scenario would find Nashville's school board declaring a truce with the KIPP Nashville middle and elementary schools approved by the state, voting to bring them under the district's umbrella. But at least one board member says he's not at all interested in reconciliation. If the state wants the KIPP schools so badly, says charter critic and MNPS board member Will Pinkston, "let the state fund them."
Pinkston says it could be interesting to see how well a state-run school would fare against Metro schools. At any rate, he shuns the idea of adopting a charter school that went over the city's head to gain approval.
It's the latest conflict in an ongoing debate over charter schools that has divided parents and educators across the county, and the school board as well. In August, MNPS denied the two new schools proposed by KIPP Nashville — a national charter operator with four schools and more than a decade in Nashville — in a split 5-4 vote. The district has 30 calendar days from Oct. 23, the day of the state board of education's vote, to adopt the two KIPP schools into the district or leave them to the state.
Either way, they will be opened in Metro's backyard — namely, in southeast Nashville.
"In the case of the state board and KIPP, here the state board is making a decision about local budget expenditures when we fund two-thirds [of costs] locally," Pinkston says. "You have a minority investor in an ivory tower, or a closed room in Memphis, making decisions on the backs of local taxpayers" — a shot aimed at the state board's decision in Bluff City last week.
Himself among those clamoring for a clampdown on charter-school growth, Pinkston says he knows charter opponents — parents, pro-public school warriors, teachers — willing to take the battle to court. He points to a September decision by Washington state's highest court that struck down charter schools, finding that they did not meet the criteria to receive state or local funding.
That lawsuit wasn't brought by a school board or a local district. It was the League of Women Voters of Washington who challenged the state, claiming charter schools did not operate under the same guidelines and authority of "common schools" — i.e., traditional public schools — and therefore could not receive the same funding. The league won.
"When you have a recalcitrant legislative branch that sets out to do harm — voucher laws or anything else — the only place to go is the third branch of government, and people are feeling more and more called in that direction," Pinkston says.
But MNPS board member Mary Pierce says it may make more sense for Metro to take local control of both new KIPP Nashville schools. Pierce was among the four members who voted yes to approve the two new charters in August.
"The school is willing to open as part of the district, we know that," Pierce says. "The state has granted them the ability, and I think it would be in the best interest to have that oversight versus the state."
The current tussle echoes the flap over Metro's 2012 denial of an application from Great Hearts Academy, an Arizona-based charter operator that sought support from West Nashville parents. The politically well-connected operator appealed to the state Board of Education, which recommended approving the charter school.
But MNPS denied the school again. In retaliation, the state walloped the district with a $3.4 million fine — prompting the legislature to alter education law in 2014. Under the new law, the state board can step in when charter schools are rejected by local districts, if said districts have low-performing schools. In that event, the state can override the rejections.
Since then, nine charter schools have appealed to the state. But KIPP Nashville's proposed primary and elementary schools are the first two to gain approval under the new state statute.
Metro school board member Jill Speering calls the state board's move to approve KIPP a "travesty of democracy" and has sided against charter schools. But she says she yet to decide whether she'd be open to bringing the charter schools into the district.
"I'm leaning toward no," Speering says. "But I will listen to all the information presented before making that decision."
MNPS board member Amy Frogge said she was "gravely disappointed" in the state's decision to override the local district and approve KIPP. Other school board members did not return calls for comment from the Scene by press time.
Whether the Metro school board reconciles with KIPP or not, the charter school would be funded just like any other Metro charter school, says Sara Heyburn, executive director of the state board. Apart from additional money provided by the state, funding flows largely from Metro taxpayers into the school district, then out to charter schools — at approximately $9,000 per student.
The state "would be supportive" if the school and district made amends, Heyburn says. But if they don't, the state is ready to take the reins on its first two charter schools.
"We'll do our best to make it go as smoothly as possible," Heyburn says. "We would be working very closely with these two schools to make sure we're staying ahead of potential curveballs."
Whatever beanballs may come, Heyburn points out that one thing will remain the same whether Metro or the state oversees the schools — the students.
