NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has declined to intervene in a lawsuit challenging a state law banning religious charter schools after issuing a legal opinion that the law is likely unconstitutional.
Late last year, the religious nonprofit Wilberforce Academy filed a lawsuit against the Knox County School Board after it claimed it was barred from opening a religious charter school in Knoxville over a state law that requires charter schools to be “nonreligious” and “nonsectarian.” In the lawsuit, Wilberforce Academy argued the state law is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
VIDEO FROM DECEMBER 2025 | Gov. Bill Lee addresses law banning religious charter schools
In December, News 2 asked Gov. Bill Lee about the lawsuit and whether he supported the law banning religious charter schools. He deferred to the attorney general to address the constitutionality of the law, but said he supported charter schools and “school choice.”
“I haven’t looked at the specifics of that law, but we’ve been strong supporters of charter schools. We’ve been strong supporters of public schools, and charter schools are public charters, and we’ve been strong supporters of school choice,” Lee said early last December. “Whenever we can give parents another option for their kid, the kids are better off.”…