It’s been sixteen years since Andre Agassi retired from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, but he’s still serving up aces in communities across the country, including Nashville.The former tennis star recently teamed up with Rocketship Public Schools to create a third high-quality public charter school in Nashville. Rocketship Dream Community Prep, serves the Antioch community of Davidson County, providing more than 350 K-4th grade students with music-enriched curriculum.

When the parade begins Saturday morning to celebrate Nashville’s public schools, the students marching will not totally reflect the city’s diverse student population.Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) made the surprising decision to exclude the city’s 30 public charter schools from attending the annual Celebration of Schools and School Options Fair for the first time in its 10-plus year history.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced a plan Wednesday to provide every district run public high school athletic program with new or improved sports fields.The announcement is part of a $15 million partnership with the Tennessee Titans and the Foundation for Athletics in Nashville Schools, Inc. (The Fans Inc), a non-profit organization dedicated to endowing athletic programming at Metro Nashville Public Schools.

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 Charter Commission overturned MNPS’s decision to reject KIPP Nashville’s applications, approving two new schools in Antioch.

On Wednesday, the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission will decide whether Nashville families in Antioch and Southeast Davidson County have new high-quality options for their children’s education.The commission is deciding appeals from KIPP Nashville and Saber STEM Academy to open public charter schools in the area. Those appeals received distinctively different reactions from the commission’s executive director.

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.

Nashville ranked 14th in the country in the number of businesses that reported moderate or large price increases in a new poll from LendingTree. Tennessee, meanwhile, ranked 11th among all states.The report, based on the U.S. Census Bureau Small Business Pulse Survey, said that 80.2% of businesses in Nashville reported those increases.

Public charter schools are playing a prominent role in Nashville’s recognition for improved academic performance.The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced Monday that Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) has increased the number of reward schools this year to 48 achieving the top accountability status during the 2021-2022 school yearNearly 30% of those 48 Reward Schools (14 total) are public charter schools.

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission heard from both parents and students Thursday morning who feel Southeast Nashville has a real need for a different educational approach to serve children who are English learners and those from underserved communities.The comments came during a public hearing for proposed public charter school Saber STEM Academy.

More than twenty speakers addressed the commission in both hearings including parents with young children in tow pleading for an alternative to traditional classroom-bound learning. Multiple homeschool families explained their decision to leave MNPS schools and why they would prefer the option of enrolling their children at the Tennessee Nature Academy to better meet their development needs.

An analysis of TNReady data by the Nashville Charter Collaborative found public charter schools are serving a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students and students of color in Nashville and those students are showing stronger gains in math and English-Language Arts (ELA) at public charter schools.

Step Up, a mentorship nonprofit founded in 1998, announced they are expanding their operations to Nashville after Music City native, Reese Witherspoon, made a multi-year investment.

This fall a little-known state board could play a huge role in expanding school choice options for parents across the state.The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission will decide the appeals of thirteen potential new public charter schools who all were previously denied by their local school boards.

Metro Nashville Public Schools fired off a scathing response this week to a new Beacon Center report that’s critical of the way school districts across the state have been spending their COVID relief money.The Beacon Center reviewed data on the $3.4 billion Tennessee school districts received from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) to evaluate how those dollars are spent. Its report questioned facility investments and other spending by multiple school districts, including $3 million Metro Nashville Public Schools spent for elementary school design services.

A new report from Beacon Center of Tennessee shows that school districts throughout Tennessee received a total of nearly $3.5 billion sent directly to districts in COVID-19 recovery funding.That funding, however, was then used by districts for items such as mattress pads, instant pots, toaster ovens, Apple pens, security cameras, sound systems, and sending teachers to a conference in Baltimore. The funds were part of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER, which has had three phases of funding.

The Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Board of Education provided school choice supporters with a mixed bag at Monday afternoon's specially called meeting.

The Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education sent another sign Tuesday night that public charter schools will not have an easy time making their case in Music City.