The House chairman of the Joint Government Operations Subcommittee on Tuesday criticized the authority of a Tennessee commission to overrule local school boards that turn down charter school applications.
Rep. Kent Calfee, a Kingston Republican who is stepping down from the Legislature this fall, spoke out against the ability of the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to turn back the decisions of elected school boards. Calfee has three school boards in his East Tennessee district.
“They make decisions, they’re elected by the people, and I trust ’em. I don’t always agree with them, but I trust ’em,” Calfee said after the Tuesday meeting. “And I don’t like when an appointed committee can override our elected officials because, as Republicans, we’re supposed to favor the local people, and that’s just not doing that.”
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Calfee acknowledged that the Legislature passed Gov. Bill Lee’s legislation setting up the commission whose members are appointed by the governor and approved by the Legislature. Calfee will no longer be in the Legislature when the 113th General Assembly opens in 2023, but he said the policy enabling the commission to overrule school boards needs to be reviewed.