NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A state board voted Wednesday to overrule the Metro Nashville school board, approving two new privately operated charter schools in southeast Nashville that local school officials say they don't need.
By an 8-0 vote, the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission approved a request from KIPP Nashville to open an elementary school and middle school — both funded by taxpayers.
And one commissioner expressed hope that similar charter schools will soon be approved in communities across Tennessee.
"It is my hope that we don't just have charter schools in three cities or four cities across our state," said Terence Patterson, a longtime charter school advocate.
"The charter school model is really for kids across different communities, whether that be rural, whether that be urban, whether that be big cities, whether it be small cities."
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Later this month, the commission will hear an appeal from Founders Classical Academy, a group previously associated with the controversial Hillsdale College, to open charter schools in Franklin and Hendersonville over the objections of the local school boards.
Hillsdale's American Classical Academy, facing intense criticism, withdrew three applications prior to Wednesday's meeting.
During the Wednesday session, commissioners rejected concerns from Metro Schools that the new KIPP schools would interfere with their own plans in the Antioch and Cane Ridge communities, including two new charter schools that are slated to open.
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The commission said KIPP Nashville has a proven record and high demand for its approach to educating children.
Commissioner Wendy Tucker praised KIPP's "really intentional desire to enroll all kids who wanted to enroll in school, including students with disabilities that had higher needs than often we see in the charter sector."
"The application and the thoughtfulness here is what I want to see for any school I will vote to approve as it relates to special populations," Tucker continued.
"There is thoughtfulness on how students will be educated. There is thoughtfulness about a continuum of services so that they will intend to keep students in the general education population, but they recognize that they may need to pull them out and they plan for that."
She added, "This is what it looks like to want to serve all kids."
On the other hand, the commission voted to side with Clarksville-Montgomery County schools, rejecting an application from Oxton Academy to open a charter high school there that would have served at-risk students.
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