Hamilton County School Board Rejects Proposed New Public Charter School

A Hamilton County School Board meeting. (Courtesy Hamilton County School Board)

While applications for public charter school proposals can take months to complete, a decision to close the door on one of them took mere minutes on Thursday night.

The Empowerment Academy, a charter school focused on agriculture and STEM, was rejected by the Hamilton County School Board after a brief presentation and no further discussion. The school is one of three public charter schools proposed this year by an organization of the same name, with two others based on similar models planned for Memphis and Nashville.

Empowerment Academy’s Proposal

The school is proposed to operate out of the Warren Chapel AME Church on North Market Street in Chattanooga and would have served boys in kindergarten through fifth grade, with an estimated opening in the 2027-2028 school year. The school would serve 50 students immediately upon its inception, with no intention of increasing enrollment in the future.

The charter’s application highlights personalized instruction in small classrooms with a low student-to-teacher ratio and a focus on helping minority males recognize viable career paths in education.

The school also hopes to develop strategic partnerships with NASA, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, and other organizations to expose children to the real-world applications of science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and mathematics (STEAM).

“Through experiential learning opportunities, scholars gain an understanding of how these fields contribute to workforce development, food sustainability, and technological innovation, while sparking interest in careers including engineering, aerospace, environmental science, and agriculture,” The Empowerment Academy’s charter proposal reads.

Recommendation to Deny

Organizations wishing to start a new charter school submit their applications earlier in the year, and the district in which they want to open the school creates a review team to evaluate the applications and provide a recommendation to the board.

Hamilton County’s review team told board members that The Empowerment Academy’s application did not meet state standards. That included its operational structure, which the review found to be “underdeveloped,” and plans for academics.

“The review team found that the academic plan does not meet the required standard, as it lacks clarity, coherence, and sufficient detail across multiple areas,” said a member of the review team. “The mission is not measurable and is not clearly aligned to the needs of the proposed student population, nor is it meaningfully embedded throughout the school model.”

The charter’s proposed teacher salary of $45,000 is also below the state’s minimum annual pay of $50,000 for the 2026-2027 school year, and the review team also expressed concerns about conflicts of interest, as several CMO staff members, including the CEO, serve on the school’s board.

Next Steps

Thursday’s vote may not be the end of the road for The Empowerment Academy.

School founders will have the option of submitting an amended application to address any issues raised in the board’s review.

The board would then vote on that amended application again during the summer.