Tennessee’s two largest school districts, Metro Nashville Public Schools and Memphis-Shelby County Schools, posted historic academic growth for the fourth year in a row, earning the state’s top rating on student progress in 2025, according to new Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) results.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

The board voted down applications from the Rock Academy, the Forge School, and Rocketship Public Schools Tuesday.

The Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education is scheduled to vote on applications from Forge School, the Rock Academy, and Rocketship Public Schools Tuesday night.

Lawmakers are currently considering legislation that would require each school district to create a policy for a non-voting student school board member.

The committee found several factors are making it more challenging to recruit career and technology (CTE) teachers, including money.  The report said teacher salaries remain significantly lower than wages in many CTE industries.

All student groups met winter growth targets for math and are on track to meet upcoming growth targets for both math and English language arts according to an update school board members received Tuesday night on the winter 2024 assessments.

The Tennessee State Board of Education released evaluations this month for how well three local education agencies are overseeing public charter schools. Five overturned decisions contributed to Metro Nashville Public Schools earning just a “satisfactory” score.

Myles granted LEAD Public Schools’ request to temporarily halt a controversial school rezoning plan approved by the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board of Education last November that would have diverted children from attending LEAD Cameron as they have been without applying first.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, members of the Metro Nashville Public School Board of Education approved an effort to install concealed weapons detection systems in all 18 high schools in the district.