State Board Will Soon Hear Great Hearts Charter Appeal

On Tuesday an Arizona-based charter school operator will try to convince the state to let it expand into Nashville, after it was rejected by the Metro school board. Great Hearts Academies will appeal to the Tennessee State Board of Education.

Charter schools are run privately, but still receive public money. Great Hearts wants to set up several around Nashville, starting with one on the affluent west side. The proposal fed concerns Great Hearts would serve mostly wealthy families that could otherwise turn to private schools, while indirectly filtering out many others.

It was one reason Metro’s Alan Coverstone gave to reject the application last month:

“Failure to serve advanced students at a high level is not a West Nashville problem; it’s a Davidson County problem. Schools with high concentrations of poverty are not a North Nashville problem; they’re a Davidson County problem.”

Great Hearts first said it would not try its luck with the state, because doing so wouldn’t leave enough time to set up a school for next year. Now it’s looking to open in 2014 instead.

–

PREVIOUSLY: School Board Rejects Great Hearts Charter

Link here to a PDF of the agenda for the 2:30 meeting, which will take place in the MNPS Board Room on Bransford Avenue.