§ 49-13-121 — Renewal of charter - Voluntary closure

(a) No later than April 1 of the year prior to the year in which the charter expires, the governing body of a public charter school seeking renewal shall submit a renewal application to the local board of education, if the local board of education is the authorizer, or to the commission or the local board of education, if the commission is the authorizer, on the standardized application form developed by the department of education. (b) A public charter school renewal application must contain a report of the public charter school's operations, including students' standardized test scores, financial statements, and audits for the eight (8) years immediately preceding the date of the renewal application. (c) Three (3) months prior to the date on which a public charter school is required to submit a renewal application, the authorizer shall submit to the public charter school a performance report that reflects the renewal evaluation. (d) On or before the February 1 of the year in which the charter expires, the authorizer to which the renewal application was submitted shall rule by resolution to approve or deny the public charter school's renewal application. The authorizer shall consider the renewal application, the annual progress reports required under § 49-13-120 , and the renewal performance report required under subsection (b) when deciding whether to approve or deny the public charter school's renewal application. (e) (1) Until 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2020: (A) A local board of education's decision to deny a renewal application may be appealed by the governing body to the state board of education no later than ten (10) days after the date of the local board of education's decision; (B) If the state board of education finds that the local board of education's decision to deny renewal of a charter agreement is contrary to the best interest of the students, LEA, or community, and the renewal application is for a public charter school in an LEA that does not contain a school on the current or last preceding priority school list, then the state board of education shall remand the decision to the local board of education with written instructions for approval of the renewal application. The local board of education shall remain the authorizer; (C) If the state board of education finds that the local board of education's decision not to renew a charter agreement was contrary to the best interests of the students, LEA, or community, and the renewal application is for a public charter school in an LEA that contains at least one (1) school on the current or last preceding priority school list, then the state board of education shall approve the renewal application and the state board of education shall be the authorizer; and (D) A decision by the state board of education to deny the renewal of a charter agreement is final and is not subject to appeal. (2) This subsection (e) is repealed at 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2020. (f) Beginning immediately upon the repeal of subsection (e): (1) A local board of education's decision to deny a renewal application may be appealed by the governing body to the commission no later than ten (10) days after the date of the local board of education's decision; (2) If the commission finds that the local board of education's decision to deny renewal of a charter agreement is contrary to the best interest of the students, LEA, or community, then the commission shall approve the renewal application and the commission shall become the authorizer. A decision by the commission to deny the renewal charter agreement is final and is not subject to appeal; and (3) If the commission approves the renewal of a charter agreement on appeal from a local board of education, then the public charter school and the commission shall enter into a renewed charter agreement in accordance with § 49-13-110(a) . (g) If a public charter school renewal application is approved, then the term of the renewed charter agreement shall be for ten (10) academic years. (h) A decision to deny renewal of a charter agreement becomes effective at the close of the school year. (i) No later than ten (10) days after an authorizer adopts a resolution to renew or deny renewal of a charter agreement, the authorizer shall report the authorizer's decision to the department of education and shall provide a copy of the resolution that sets forth the authorizer's decision and the reasons for the decision. (j) If a public charter school voluntarily closes, then the public charter school's agreement with the authorizer ceases to be effective as of the public charter school's closing date. (k) The authorizer shall conduct an interim review of a public charter school in the fifth year of a public charter school's initial period of operation and in the fifth year following any renewal of a charter agreement under guidelines developed by the department of education. The guidelines must require a public charter school to submit a report to the authorizer on the progress of the public charter school in achieving its goals and objectives, including student performance and other terms of the approved charter agreement.

Legislative History

Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 219, s 71, eff. 4/26/2019. Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 307, s 17, eff. 7/1/2017. Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 850, Secs.s 13, s 14eff. 4/30/2014. Amended by 2013 Tenn. Acts, ch. 326, s 10, eff. 7/1/2013. Acts 2002, ch. 850, § 22; 2005, ch. 414, §7; 2009 , ch. 555, §§ 9- 12; 2011 , ch. 507, § 12; 2012, ch. 1097, § 3.