NASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to create a new Tennessee charter commission cleared another legislative hurdle Wednesday.
But not before a Hamilton County lawmaker weighed in with concerns about who gets named to the powerful new authorizing body that would be empowered to overrule any local school board’s rejection of charter operators’ applications.
“I’m going to support the bill here today, but I do have some concerns, perhaps suggestions, that I’d like to offer in terms of how that commission is made up,” House Finance Committee Vice Chairwoman Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, said as the bill came through the House Finance Subcommittee. “Because I think that’s going to be critical to the success of this process and to make sure that there is transparency in the process.”
Patsy HazlewoodHazlewood noted Hamilton County already has several “very successful” public charter schools, including one in her district.
But she noted “they were all approved by the local school board. I’m not aware of any that they denied that went to the appeal process.”