House Members Debate Whether Charter Schools are “Real” Public Schools

Representatives William Slater (left) and John Ray Clemmons (right) (Photos by the Tennessee General Assembly)

A House floor discussion about legislation sponsored by Representative William Slater, R-Gallatin, to establish adult charter schools turned into a debate over the fundamental role of public charter schools in Tennessee.

Representative John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, has been critical of charters this session, and he continued to question why the state is providing money to fund them during Wednesday’s debate.

“Charter schools are a wholly different, wholly separate, unregulated, and generally profit-driven,” Clemmons said. “Let’s not kid anybody, this legal fiction that charter schools are somehow equivalent to our real public schools, two completely different things.”

Defending Charter Accountability

Charter schools are run by an organization under a “charter” with a school district or the state, and despite Clemmons’ statements, they are prohibited by law from being “profit-driven.”  In Tennessee, charter schools must be operated by nonprofit organizations, and free to attend.

Representative Slater pushed back against Clemmons’ charter criticism, reminding him that the state has always considered them “public schools.” Slater also pointed out that charters face stricter regulations than traditional public schools.

“When a public charter school is failing, then it closes, and charter schools have closed,” Slater said. “Our traditional public schools, when they fail, they stay open and continue not to educate the children that are entrusted to them.”

Charters Outperform Schools in Clemmons’ District

Clemmons’ continued criticism of charter schools is notable as state testing data shows they’re usually the highest-performing schools for families in his district.  

The Nashville lawmaker represents an area that includes the Glencliff, Cane Ridge, and Overton school clusters. The Tennessee Firefly compared the performance of just under a dozen charter schools in those clusters to schools in these communities run by Metro Nashville Public Schools. 

All six charter high schools outperformed the three clusters’ high schools in every subject on last year’s state tests. That includes students at Valor Flagship Academy in south Davidson County’s Overton Cluster, who scored more than 30 proficiency points higher in English language arts and math and 50 points higher in science.

Additionally, six of the seven charter middle schools outperformed every district-run middle school in their cluster across all subjects, including students at LEAD Prep Southeast, who scored roughly 20 proficiency points higher in ELA and science and more than 30 points higher in math.