School board splits on charter school waiver
The Thursday, February 5 meeting of the Knox County Board of Education was fairly routine, but the called meeting held before the regular meeting seemed to generate more interest. The purpose of the called meeting was to determine the board’s reaction to a possible Christian charter school. Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville had filed a letter of intent with the board to form a Christian charter school.
Tennessee law states that a charter school sponsor may not be “a private, religious, or church school.”
The called meeting centered on what Knox County Deputy Law Director Gary Dupler called “a narrow point of law.” Dupler said the contention is whether or not the school board could waive charter school requirements. Officials of the academy had filed a lawsuit against the school board. The lawsuit states in part, “state and local officials retain broad discretion to approve charter schools that do not meet all the state law requirements.”…