Metro Nashville school board denies five charter school applications

Nashville Tennessean

The Metro Nashville Public Schools board denied five charter school applications Tuesday as the school district braces for the possibility of deep budget cuts and little new money for next year.

In addition to pointing to the need for fiscal belt-tightening, board members raised concerns that none of the applications before them fully met the district's expectations for charter schools.

"Our budgetary future is uncertain," said Amy Frogge, the board's vice chair and a longtime charter school critic. "We have to prioritize where those funds go. We can chose to open charter seats or we can chose to pay our teachers and our staff members and really that's what it comes down to."

Earlier in the day, Mayor John Cooper unveiled a budget proposal that calls for a 31.7% property tax increase to help overcome a massive drop in revenue due largely to the coronavirus and its impact on the local economy. He proposed increasing the school's budget by less than $1 million for next year.

Nashville school board member Amy Frogge speaks about the termination of the contract of director Shawn Joseph during the MNPS Board of Public Education meeting at the Administration Building of Metropolitan Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, April 9, 2019.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Cooper said he asked Nashville school leaders to figure out how they could carve up to $100 million out of the district's budget for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The school board's denial of charter school applications is also in keeping with its overall trend in recent years. The debate over charter schools in Nashville has been one of the city's most contentious.

Critics say charter schools, which receive public money but are operated independently, pull students, money and resources away from zoned schools. Proponents have said they allow choices for parents and alleviate needs at some schools.

Nashville now is projected to spend $139 million on the city's 28 charter schools, which enroll nearly 13,000 students.

Board members, who met Tuesday via an online video chatting platform due to the pandemic, considered applications for the following schools:

Nashville Collegiate Prep
Ivy Prep Academy
KIPP Southeast Nashville College Prep Elementary School
KIPP Southeast Nashville College Prep Middle School
KIPP Antioch College Prep High School

Dennis Queen, the district's executive director of charter schools, gave a series of presentations during Tuesday's board meeting about the district's assessment of each of the charter school applications up for consideration.

The proposed charter schools were rated in four areas: academics, operations, finances and past performance.

MNPS Executive Director of Charter Schools Dennis Queen expresses his frustration and sympathy for New Vision Academy charter school parents and students during a meeting on Thursday, March 7, 2019 in Nashville, Tenn.

The presentations given by Queen raised various concerns about all five applications. Deliberations by the board echoed some of those issues, too.

Although the three KIPP Nashville applications were ultimately denied, some of the board members shared favorable comments about the work the existing KIPP schools are doing in the city. The seven KIPP Nashville schools already in operation in the city are part of a national network of charter schools.

"They have a lot of support behind them," said Fran Bush, who represents southeast Nashville, where the three new KIPP schools were slated to go. But Bush raised concerns about shortcomings in their applications as well as the need to be fiscally prudent with the district's money right now.

Randy Dowell, executive director of KIPP Nashville, said in a Tuesday afternoon interview that the hope is to add three additional schools in Antioch to help meet the education needs of the growing community. Parents with students at the two KIPP schools that are already operating in the southeast Nashville neighborhood are eager to have a high school nearby, he said.

Nashville school board member Fran Bush speaks about the termination of the contract of director Shawn Joseph during the MNPS Board of Public Education meeting at the Administration Building of Metropolitan Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, April 9, 2019.

"Somebody needs to open public schools and we've raised our hand because we're already there," Dowell said. "We are turning away far more kids every year than we can accept at those two schools."

The charter school applicants can make changes to their applications and bring them back before the board. If they are denied again, they can take the matter to the state board of education for consideration.

Under legislation pushed by Gov. Bill Lee, a new charter school commission will hear appeals starting in the 2020-2021 school year.

Dowell said Tuesday afternoon that if the three applications were denied, KIPP Nashville would take a look at the board's feedback and use their suggestions to submit revised applications.

Reach Holly Meyer at hmeyer@tennessean.com or 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.