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.

Nature isn’t just a part of the name of the Tennessee Nature Academy or even just a component of the new public charter school’s curriculum.When the academy opens in August, students will have a true nature-based classroom in the woods next to their school in Nashville’s Caine Ridge community.

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission approved the Tennessee Nature Academy in a 5-3 vote, overturning MNPS's rejection. Several other charter school appeals were denied.

The Tennessee Nature Academy aims to be Middle-Tennessee’s first nature-based public charter school but it’s a different type of green that could cause challenges at next week’s appeal hearing with the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.Commission Executive Director Tess Stovall issued a recommendation against the academy’s appeal, citing a lack of documentation about how the school would acquire the necessary funds to operate and its proposed reliance on per pupil revenue by year three of operation.

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission received no written comments from the public in opposition to the four charter school appeals members are hearing from Nashville.Commissioners are planning to decide the appeals for KIPP Southeast Nashville College Prep Elementary, KIPP Southeast Nashville College Prep Middle, the Tennessee Nature Academy, and Saber STEM Academy of Nashville later this month.