NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Senate on Monday approved legislation allowing privately operated public charter schools to enroll up to 25% of their students from outside the local public school district where they operate while also limiting the number of children of administrators and teachers attending a charter to no more than 10%.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, passed on a 26-5 vote. The House companion bill is scheduled to come up in full committee Tuesday.
Gardenhire said his Senate Bill 980 is intended to address multiple issues. The bill is supported by the Tennessee Charter School Center and opposed by the Tennessee Education Association, which represents many public school teachers and other school workers across the state and has raised multiple concerns.
Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, asked Gardenhire to explain what problem the bill solves.
“Several of the — I’ve termed it the ‘educational industrial complex’ — doesn’t like charter schools,” Gardenhire said. “They like to keep everything status quo. And this sort of clarifies some things. As I said, one of their concerns is out-of-county students could come in and flood the charter school.”