NASHVILLE NEWS

Commissioners unanimously voted to reverse the Metro Nashville Board of Education’s June decision denying The Rock Academy’s application and upheld the board’s denial of The Forge School on a split 5-3 vote.

Students at The Forge School will begin working on career certifications as early as the sixth grade, and their academic journey will include job shadowing and internships with school partners to help prepare for a career immediately after high school or college.

If approved by the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, The Rock Academy would open in 2026 with an initial class of 88 freshmen and then add a grade each year.

Statewide, three percent more charter students tested proficient in math on the TCAP than last year and English language arts proficiency grew by a single percentage point.

The program, frequently referred to as vouchers, is providing 20 thousand children with tax dollars to pay for private school expenses, and Blackburn says it will be a key part of her education policy if she’s elected governor next year.

Half a dozen parents, including Kindall Maupin, utilized the meeting’s public comment phase to attack Dr. Battle’s leadership, and a recent $6.5 million legal settlement with former district administrators approved by the Board of Education.

The proposed sixth through 12th grade public charter school is designed to provide hands-on, real-world learning to students who are interested in careers in architecture, construction, or engineering.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) is teaming up with Vanderbilt University on a new $450 thousand research project aimed at tackling one of the city’s most pressing education challenges: chronic absenteeism.

Rocketship Executive Director Eric Dailey tells the Tennessee Firefly that his organization is only planning to appeal the narrow 4-3 decision in Rutherford County to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.

The Tennessee Nature Academy held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for its new school building that will open on 23 acres of donated land in Cane Ridge next year.

The parent advocacy organization is upset that Battle’s administration is paying a reported $6.5 million in a legal settlement with five former school administrators who sued the district for alleged discrimination.

The research of Tennessee’s more than 100 public charter schools found these students consistently outperformed traditional school peers in math and English language arts following the pandemic.

A new state legislative advisory committee met Thursday in Nashville to explore whether the state’s current 180-day school calendar should be replaced by a more flexible instructional time model, measured in hours or minutes.

Members of the Rutherford County Schools Board of Education denied Rocketship’s application in April, but multiple members encouraged the charter operator to make revisions and resubmit for a vote tonight.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) and Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) received top honors at the 2025 ACT State and District Summit for their leadership in preparing students for postsecondary success.

Tennessee Nature Academy has secured a 23-acre permanent campus site in Cane Ridge, thanks to a $2 million land donation from the McGowan family. The tuition-free public charter school will use the forest, stream, and wetland-filled property to deepen its outdoor-based, hands-on learning model for grades 5–12. Groundbreaking is set for July 30, 2025.

A national study finds just 12% of certificates and industry credentials significantly raise wages—leaving many Tennessee workers struggling as rent and home prices outpace income.

For the last five years, students at Valor Collegiate Academy have been able to participate in school-based athletics on Overton High School teams as part of an agreement between the schools.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released the 2024–25 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) results Tuesday afternoon, revealing year-over-year improvements in student proficiency across every tested subject and grade level.

In years past, district leaders in Nashville have given staff more time to review the sometimes-expansive applications by scheduling charter decisions in the July school board meeting.

In an effort to close the gap between classrooms and careers, SCORE has awarded Future Forward grants to seven programs across Tennessee.

For a group of students from the Roots of Music program in New Orleans, performing at CMA Fest in Nashville last weekend marked several firsts: first plane ride, first time outside Louisiana and first national performance opportunity.

All three applicants have the ability to appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission that has overturned at least one MNPS charter denial four years in a row.

The board unexpectedly decided late last week to hold votes on amended applications from the Rock Academy, the Forge School, and Rocketship Public Schools at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Speaking before at the Rotary Club of Nashville Monday, O’Connell reaffirmed that his office has done nothing to warrant the investigations now underway in the U.S. House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, though the mayor said both are taxing vital Metro resources.

At Tuesday’s budget meeting, Board Member Zach Young said the district could do a better job attracting hard-to-fill specialty teaching positions if the raise was higher than 3 percent.

Under her instruction, 74 percent of students were reading on grade level. By comparison, 2024 state testing data shows that 33 percent of elementary school students in Metro Nashville Public Schools achieved proficiency.

The move coincides with existing CEO Dwayne Tucker’s decision to continue serving Tennessee State University as interim president and not return to LEAD for the 2025/26 school year.

If approved by the Metro Council, education will make up more than 37 percent of the total Metro budget.