Charter Advocates Say Great Hearts Exposes Need for State-Level Authorizer

Charter school advocates say the repeated denial of Great Hearts Academies shows a need for a state-level authority to approve charter applicants. The current process still requires the local school board to sign off.

Metro’s top attorney told the school board this week it had no choice but to approve the application after Arizona-based Great Hearts appealed to the state. Yet Metro denied the charter, again, saying the school was too focused on catering to affluent families and had yet to meet diversity-related contingencies.

Great Hearts says the state needs an “impartial authorizer” before it will come back to Tennessee. Matt Throckmorton agrees. He directs the Tennessee Charter Schools Association and accuses the Metro school board of looking for any way to reject Great Hearts, even though it met all the qualifications.

“But if there is the statewide authorizer and they realize they can’t say no all along. If they do, it will end up being approved anyway.”

Throckmorton says local boards might be more cooperative if they knew a charter could just go over their heads.

Creating a statewide charter authorizer would require approval from the legislature, which would be a tough sell according to Tennessee’s education commissioner.