Rutherford County School Board Approves County’s Sixth Public Charter School
Nobel Education Initiative (NEI) stock photo.
A sixth public charter school has received approval to open in Rutherford County despite some concerns from district leaders.
The Rutherford County School Board approved the Nobel Education Initiative’s (NEI) application to open Rutherford Collegiate Prep on a 6-1 vote during its meeting Thursday night.
The K-12 grade school is set to open for the 2027-2028 school year in the northwest region of Rutherford County.
Continuous Improvement Model
Rutherford Collegiate Prep will open with an initial class of 675 kindergarten through sixth-grade students and a ninth-grade class. NEI plans to grow the school to serve 1,565 students at capacity in year five.
The school’s academic plan is driven by NEI’s Continuous Improvement Model (CIM), which consists of four elements:
· Planning
· Standards-Based Instruction
· Assessment
· Responsive Teaching
NEI plans for Rutherford Prep to be a learning community for entire families, with the aim of creating local university and business partnerships for student growth opportunities.
Support, Stability, and Trust
Before board members discussed the application, NEI School Administrator Erica Roberts explained why Rutherford Prep will serve K-12 students.
“A K-12 continuum allows students to grow in a stable, consistent environment from early childhood through graduation,” Roberts said. “It creates continuity in expectations, relationships, and academic rigor. Students benefit from long-term support, families benefit from stability, and the community benefits from graduates who are well prepared, confident, and deeply connected to where they learn and grow.”
Roberts also spoke about the school’s leadership makeup, describing it as a family of educators who support each other and students are known and believed in.
“Every day, I'm reminded of why this work matters,” Roberts said. “Families entrust us with their children's futures, and that trust is honored through hard work and dedication. At Rutherford Collegiate Prep, academics are taken seriously. This is a relentless focus on high expectations, strong instruction, and meaningful support.”
Concern About NEI’s Nashville School
While most board members were supportive of NEI’s application, board member Butch Vaughn expressed his apprehension about the charter operator’s Nashville school, Knowledge Academy at the Crossings. The Metro Nashville Board of Education voted against renewing the school’s charter last year, citing concerns about performance and student growth, forcing NEI to successfully appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.
“I just feel like we need to deny it and give them an opportunity to fix these areas in the next 30 days, which I don't think will be a problem at all, but I just know it's easier to fix these things now,” Vaughn said.
A denial vote by the board would have opened a 30-day period for NEI to amend the application, which, in turn, would have created delays that prevented Rutherford Prep from opening during the 2027-2028 school year, even if approved.
Board member Frances Rosales came to Rutherford Prep’s defense before the vote to approve the charter.
“They've done quite a bit of work, I will have to say, in trying to answer the questions that I have come out since then,” Rosales said. “So, there's been communication on both ends.”
Rutherford County welcomed three public charter schools in the 2024-25 school year, while Novus SMART Academy and Rocketship Public Schools both received approval to open last year to open this August.
