The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission held a hearing Wednesday in Murfreesboro to review a proposed Hillsdale College-affiliated charter school. The charter was previously denied by the Rutherford County Schools Board of Education.
The proposed charter is one of three American Classical Academies being reviewed by the commission this week. There will be a hearing for an ACA charter application for the Jackson-Madison School System Thursday, and another for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System Friday.
Charter schools remain a controversial topic. Critics argue that the commission, which was appointed by charter supporter Gov. Bill Lee, was created to greenlight as many charter school applications as possible — effectively overruling the decisions of local school boards. Additionally, bipartisan controversy surrounds ACA: Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn said earlier this summer that “teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.” Gov. Lee, who is close with Arnn and has championed a statewide partnership with Hillsdale-supported charter schools, was later criticized for not condemning Arnn’s comments or coming out in support of Tennessee’s public school teachers. Arnn’s statement — along with the conservative nature of the proposed charters’ curriculum and Lee’s desire to inject them in school districts across the state — has added significant scrutiny and political pressure to the issue.
“We are here because unelected officials are trying to overturn a decision that was made by the Rutherford County Board of Education,” said Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Martin. “My fear is that the people's will will not be done in this case, and that it'll be jammed through. And remember, this is about power and money, and this is about using our tax dollars to take them out of public schools, to further weaken them, and give them to friends and affiliates of the governor's office. And that, in my opinion, is the definition of corruption.”
A pro-charter school sign.
Other politicians, including state Reps. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) and John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville), along with District 34 state House candidate Laura Bohling (D-Murfreesboro), appeared at the event. Other attendees brought signage both in support of and opposition to ACA.
The hearing reviewed the ACA application. According to Rutherford County school choice and charter schools coordinator Caitlin Bullard, ACA’s application didn’t fully meet state standards regarding its academic plan, design and capacity or operations plan and capacity. ACA representatives rebutted these claims.
Executive director of the charter commission Tess Stovall asked how Arnn’s comments affected the school board’s decision, to which Bullard responded that they did not affect the charter review team’s investigation (the scores of which, she said, were finalized before the comments were released), but “the board was encouraged to consider the comments in order to protect public interest” when making its decision. Stovall later asked ACA reps about the altered makeup of the charter’s governing board, which initially featured many individuals with connections to Hillsdale but later changed to include more Tennessee residents. When pressed by Stovall on the matter, ACA legal counsel Rich Haglund pointed out that the sponsoring body has not significantly changed and that it’s not unprecedented for charters to change their governing bodies, saying, “We think it's a waste of time to be talking about it today, rather than once the school is authorized.”
The meeting allowed 30 minutes of public comments, most of which were filled with supporters of the charter school — a move Clemmons tells the Scene was intentional and unfortunate.
“This is not an indictment on our teachers,” said Rutherford County Schools board member Tammy Sharp, the only member who voted in support of the charter school. “My support is not an indictment on our central office staff. It's not an indictment on anything that's in our system. It's that I've got constituents that are at 12 percent poverty. Most of my schools are at capacity. It is what it is. We have a great system and everybody wants to move here.”
Stovall urged others to submit their comments in writing or electronically. She said the commission will continue to take comments “for the next week.”
Michelle Garcia, a board member for American Classical Education Tennessee, tells the Scene she is “really thrilled with our showing today.”
“It's gonna be interesting, the political calculus they make as to whether or not they cut the cord with Hillsdale to save their overall objective to charterize and privatize Tennessee,” Clemmons tells the Scene, referring to the state charter commission's next steps. “Because right now, Hillsdale, which was their prize pig, is now an albatross around their neck.”
A final decision on American Classical Academy charter schools, along with a few others proposed for MNPS and Clarksville-Montgomery County schools, will be made at a special-called charter commission meeting Oct. 5 in Nashville.
