Skillern Elementary will be allowed to increase its enrollment by 20% after the Hamilton County Board of Education voted Monday to approve an emergency petition from the school.
Skillern Elementary, a charter school in Soddy-Daisy, will be able to enroll up to 492 students once it reaches capacity during the 2027-28 school year. Its total enrollment was previously capped at 408.
Charter schools are taxpayer funded but independently run public schools. Locally, the charter schools are governed by their own boards of directors but authorized by the Hamilton County school board. That means any changes to their charter agreement, including an increase in the maximum total student enrollment, need to be approved by the county school board.
After over an hour of discussion, the board voted 6-4, along partisan lines, to approve Skillern’s request. Chattanooga Democrats Jackie Anderson-Thomas, Jill Black, Ben Connor and Karitsa Jones voted no. School board member Larry Grohn, R-East Ridge, was absent.
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