Present law generally requires a sponsor seeking to establish a new public charter school to apply to the LEA in which the school will be located. This bill authorizes a charter school operator (a "governing body") that has at least one public charter school authorized by an LEA or the Tennessee public charter school commission (the "commission") that has been in operation for at least one full school year to apply for replication in the LEA in which the governing body is currently operating to the LEA or directly to the commission. This bill also authorizes sponsors of public charter schools in LEAs whose denials of public charter school applications have been overturned by the commission three or more times in a three-year period to apply directly to the commission. Present law requires a prospective charter school sponsor to submit a letter of intent to the department of education and the authorizer of its plan to submit an application to operate a charter school 60 days before the application process begins. This bill requires the prospective sponsor to send the letter of intent to the commission instead of the department. This bill requires the commission to make letters of intent that it receives available on its website within 10 days of receipt. If the sponsor of a new public charter school by way of replication elects to apply directly to the commission, then the application process must be conducted in accordance with the notice, application, donation disclosure, and application fee requirements applicable to all charter school applications, and with the following: (1) The commission must approve or deny the application within 90 days of receipt of a completed application. If the commission fails to approve or deny a replication application within 90 days, then the application is deemed approved; (2) If the commission denies a replication application, then the grounds for denial must be stated in writing and must specify objective reasons for the denial. A sponsor has 30 days to submit an amended replication application to correct any deficiencies. Upon receipt of an amended application, the commission has 60 days to deny or approve the amended application. If the commission fails to approve or deny the amended application within 60 days, then the amended application is deemed approved; (3) If the commission approves a replication application, then the commission is the authorizer and LEA for that public charter school; and (4) The commission's decision is final and not subject to appeal. This bill adds that, if the commission has overturned a LEA's decision to deny a public charter school application on three separate occasions within a three-consecutive-year period, then, for the five-consecutive-year period immediately following the date on which the commission overturned the LEA's third decision to deny a public charter school application within the last three years, any sponsor that seeks to establish a new public charter school in that LEA may apply directly to the commission. The provisions for replication described in (1) – (4) will also apply to applications made directly to the commission. After the five-consecutive-year period during which a sponsor may apply directly to the commission, a sponsor that seeks to establish a new public charter school must apply directly to the LEA. Present law specifies that it is the intent of the Tennessee Public Charter Schools Act of 2002 to provide local school systems the option to work in concert with the state's public higher education institutions to establish charter school laboratories of teaching and learning as a means of fostering educational innovations for implementation statewide. This bill adds authorization for a public institution of higher education in Tennessee that seeks to open a public charter school to apply to the LEA or directly to the commission. Present law requires a sponsor to submit an application to the authorizer and the department on or before February 1 of the year preceding the year in which the proposed public charter school plans to begin operation. This bill removes the requirement that the application be provided to the department and adds a requirement that the authorizer report each application, including applications for renewal, it receives to the commission within 10 days of receipt. Present law requires that an authorizer report to the department of education whether the authorizer approved or denied a charter school application, together with a copy of the authorizer's resolution that provides the authorizer's decision and the reasons for the authorizer's decision, within 10 days of the approval or denial. This bill adds that the decision and resolution must also be provided to the commission. Present law authorizes a public charter school to give an enrollment preference to children of the public charter school's employees or to the children of a member of the public charter school's governing body, not to exceed 10% of the public charter school's total enrollment or 25 students, whichever is less. This bill adds that a public charter school sponsored by a public institution of higher education in Tennessee may give an enrollment preference to children of the public institution of higher education's employees or members of the institution's governing body, not to exceed 25% of the public charter school's total enrollment. This bill transfers from the department to the commission responsibility for monitoring and maintaining information related to charter school applications. This bill requires the commission shall annually make such information available on its website. Present law requires the governing body of a public charter school to make an annual progress report to the authorizer and to the commissioner of education. The reports are public and the commissioner is required to use the reports as the basis for an annual report to legislative committees. This bill removes the requirement for progress reports and requires the commissioner to prepare an annual report on public charter schools. Under present law, if the commission approves the renewal of a charter agreement on appeal from an LEA, then the public charter school and the commission are required to enter into a renewed charter agreement. Present law specifies that the duration of initial and renewed charter agreements is 10 years. Under this bill, if the commission approves the renewal of a charter agreement on appeal from an LEA, then the public charter school and the commission are required to enter into a renewed charter agreement for a term of no less than five academic years, but no more than 10 academic years, as determined by resolution of the commission. Present law requires an authorizer to notify the department within 10 days of adopting a resolution to renew, revoke, or deny renewal of a charter agreement. This bill adds that the authorizer must also notify the commission. If the commission approves the renewal of a charter agreement for a public charter school that was authorized by the achievement school district, this bill requires the public charter school and the commission to enter into a renewed charter agreement for a term of no less than five academic years, but no more than 10 academic years, as determined by resolution of the commission. This bill transfers various functions concerning public charter schools from the department to the state board of education. These include functions such as developing forms, data collection, developing guidelines for the review of charter schools, developing a model performance framework, and providing information to the public. This bill also deletes provisions of the Tennessee Public Charter Schools Act of 2002 that have become artifacts due to expiration of their effective periods. ON MARCH 24, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1310, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 makes the following revisions:  Authorizes the Tennessee public charter school commission ("commission") to promulgate rules, in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, for the authorization of replication applications submitted to the commission pursuant to the bill.  Removes the requirement that the application process, when a public institution of higher education in this state elects to apply directly to the commission for approval of its public charter school application, be conducted in accordance with all of the following:  The commission must rule by resolution, at a regularly or specially called meeting, to approve or deny a public charter school application no later than 90 days after the date on which the commission received the completed application. If the commission fails to approve or deny a public charter school application within 90 days, then the public charter school application is deemed approved.  If the commission denies an application, then the grounds for denial must be stated in writing and must specify objective reasons for the denial. Upon receipt of the grounds for denial, the sponsor has 30 days to submit an amended application to correct any deficiencies. Upon receipt of the amended application, the commission has 60 days to deny or approve the amended application. If the commission fails to approve or deny the amended application within 60 days, then the amended application is deemed approved.  If the commission approves an application, then the commission is the authorizer and LEA for that public charter school.  The commission's decision is final and not subject to appeal.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-13-104, 49-13-106(i), 49-13-106, 49-13-107(a), 49-13-107, 49-13-107(b), 49-13-108, 49-13-108(b)(5), 49-13-108(b)(5)(D), 49-13-108(g), 49-13-110(d), 49-13-110, 49-13-111(a)(4), 49-13-111, 49-13-116(a), 49-13-116, 49-13-116(b), 49-13-120, 49-13-121(a), 49-13-121, 49-13-121(d), 49-13-121(e), 49-13-121(f), 49-13-121(f)(3), 49-13-121(i), 49-13-121(k), 49-13-122(g), 49-13-122, 49-13-128(f), 49-13-128, 49-13-133(b), 49-13-133, 49-13-142, 49-13-143(a), 49-13-143, 49-13-143(b)