Trace Sharp has been wondering about charter schools and why they aren’t in rural Tennessee. I have a short answer for her. There aren’t enough students. In order for the model to work, think ROI, they need pupils. The money follows the pupil. If this were not true, then there’d be charters in most or every rural county in Tennessee. There are none.
Only urban schools need “reform” and only urban parents need a “choice.” Get it?
Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina all have rural charter schools. Tennessee hasn't had rural charters yet because until recently the law made if difficult, if not impossible to do so. Specifically:
1. We had a statewide hard cap on charters.
2. Student eligibility was limited to students at failing schools and/or students who scored below basic on the TCAP. Since the failing school designation changed each year, it was extraordinarily difficult for would-be rural charter operators to get enough students to fill out a class.
3. When eligibility was expanded, it was limited to the five largest school districts.
4. Memphis and Nashville have the largest philanthropic communities in the state. Starting a new charter school usually requires some privately raised funds to pay for capital costs like painting classrooms and buying technology.
5. Until recently, all charter authorizations were done by local school boards. Rural boards are notoriously unfriendly to opening new schools.
Spending per pupil would actually be roughly the same in a rural or urban setting because a lot of that is state or federal dollars. The BEP formula sends more money to district that raise less in local taxes (though it doesn't completely make up the deficits and should have more funding, period).
Many of Tennessee's rural schools have terrible student achievement. Parents and students there also deserve more and better options.
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