NASHVILLE -- Tennessee charter schools in Hamilton County and several other school districts could enroll up to 25% of their students from outside the local public school district under a bill set for a state Senate floor vote Monday.
Senate Bill 980, sponsored by Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, is generating concerns, including from the Tennessee Education Association, which represents teachers and other personnel in county and city government-run public schools. The association said the bill would supersede local districts' ability to prevent out-of-district recruitment.
Charter schools are privately run schools primarily funded through state and local government tax dollars.
"This legislation seeks to clarify several charter school provisions as well as address operational challenges that charter schools in Tennessee have identified," Gardenhire told Senate Education Committee members earlier this month.
Gardenhire said the bill is needed because there are conflicting provisions in law regarding a charter school governing body's adopting an out-of-district acceptance policy versus the charter school following the school system's policy.
"This clarifies that the governing body of the charter school may allow out-of-district enrollment but -- and that's the key word -- but the charter school must enroll all in-district students first, second key word, and the charter school may not enroll more than 25% of their students from out of district," Gardenhire said.
The senator also told colleagues there currently is no cap on a charter school's out-of-district enrollment.
Gov. Bill Lee's new school funding formula, the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement formula, which replaced the decades-old Basic Education Program formula based on system needs, is student-based. The funding formula is based on state and local dollars.
Using Hamilton and Rhea counties as examples, Gardenhire said in a phone interview Sunday, state dollars could follow a Rhea student to a Hamilton-based charter school. Continuing that example, it also would include Rhea County's local share of the school funding formula going to the charter school.
"If Rhea County's allotment is less than Hamilton's, then they can charge the difference between the two," Gardenhire said of the Hamilton County school system. "And then Hamilton County can keep that money. It doesn't go to the charter school."
David Connor, executive director with the Tennessee County Services Association, which represents county governments, said in a phone interview last week he and others have several concerns about the effect of the legislation on counties, especially in rural areas, with state formula dollars following students to the charter schools.
"So you can open one in Hamilton, and you can recruit people to come in from Polk or Marion or wherever around," Connor said. "Most everybody will admit that there are some fixed costs that don't follow that student. Just because you pick up a kid out of a school and move them somewhere doesn't mean there weren't some costs left behind."
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"And," Connor added, "the county doesn't get to keep any (state) money for that. You have to send them everything that TISA attributes to that student and per-pupil share of any extra money you put in."
A fiscal note on the bill prepared by legislative analysts states that any shift in funds from a local education agency to a public charter school would be offset by the cost it no longer incurs for educating a student now going elsewhere. Therefore, analysts said, any net fiscal effect is estimated to be not significant.
Connor said not everything would be offset because school systems have fixed expenses in areas ranging from the maintenance and cleaning of school buildings to running buses.
Jim Wrye, the Tennessee Education Association's assistant executive director for government relations and communications, said during an in-person interview last week that none of the five districts with charter schools currently allow operators to recruit additional students from outside the district.
He said the county could come and say, "Well, how many kids do you have from out of the district and things like that. We're going to charge you and try to recoup that money," Wrye said. "They can do that, but there's a reason why we don't have open enrollment, because it never works out, even when you charge tuition.
"Counties are often very cautious when it comes to out-of-district enrollment policies because they understand that it's county taxpayers paying for their schools," Wrye said.
The Tennessee Education Assocation opposes the bill.
Elizabeth Fiveash, chief policy officer for the Tennessee Charter School Center and Lee's former assistant commissioner for legislative affairs, testified in the Senate Education Committee in favor of the bill.
In a subsequent phone interview last week, Fiveash told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that "Sen. Gardenhire is not changing anything about this that's already in current law. So, this is nothing new, which is why I'm a little surprised that they're kind of getting hung up on this. What the bill is trying to do is limit the out-of-district enrollment for charter schools because right now there's no cap."
Moreover, Fiveash said, a school superintendent was the person who brought the issue to the charter advocacy group's attention.
"The way the law was written, there was no limitation on how a charter school could enroll out of district students," she said. "We looked at it, and we talked to a couple of lawyers, and they're like, 'Yeah, the law right now is really confusing. And it's not clear, and you could make an argument that they can do that.' And we're like, 'OK, well then, we need to clean that up.' So that was the impetus of trying to address this."
Currently, Fiveash said, charter operators can take the students, and there is no cap. So they can enroll 100% of their students from out of county, she added.
Efforts to get the Hamilton County school district's take on the bill were unsuccessful last week, with a spokesperson saying a key official knowledgeable about charter school issues was ill and unavailable.
The House companion bill continues to move through the committee process.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com.