(a) Participation in a public charter school shall be based on parental choice or the choice of the legal guardian or custodian.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 49-13-113

  • Authorizer: means :
    (A) A local board of education, the Tennessee public charter school commission, or the achievement school district as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 49-13-104
  • Commission: means the Tennessee public charter school commission. See Tennessee Code 49-13-104
  • Governing body: means the organized group of persons who will operate a public charter school or schools by deciding matters, including, but not limited to, budgeting, curriculum and other operating procedures for the public charter school and by overseeing management and administration of a public charter school. See Tennessee Code 49-13-104
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Public charter school: means a public school in this state that is established and operating under the terms of a charter agreement and in accordance with this chapter. See Tennessee Code 49-13-104
  • Sponsor: means a proposed governing body filing an application for the establishment of a public charter school, that:
    (A) Is not a for-profit entity. See Tennessee Code 49-13-104
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) A charter school authorized by the commission is open to students residing within the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the charter school is located.
(c)

(1) If a public charter school’s authorizer has a policy allowing out-of-district enrollment, then the public charter school may enroll students residing outside the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located if capacity is available after all eligible in-district students have been enrolled. A public charter school’s total enrollment of out-of-district students shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the public charter school’s total enrollment.
(2) State school funds must follow a student into the LEA in which the public charter school is located and to which the student transfers.
(3) Tuition may be charged by the LEA in which the public charter school is located and to which a student transfers, as provided in § 49-6-3003.
(4) If a public charter school’s authorizer has a policy that prohibits out-of-district enrollment, then the public charter school may request to adopt an out-of-district enrollment policy through the waiver process outlined in § 49-13-111; provided, however, that the waiver request may only be submitted to the public charter school’s authorizer for approval.
(d)

(1) A public charter school shall enroll an eligible pupil who submits a timely application, unless the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building.
(2) An enrollment preference shall be provided to students that attended the charter school during the previous school year.
(3) If the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building, the charter school shall select students through a lottery. The enrollment preference for returning students provided in subdivision (d)(2) shall exclude those students from entering into a lottery.
(4) If an enrollment lottery is conducted, a public charter school shall give enrollment preferences in the following order:

(A) Students enrolled in a pre-K program operated by the charter school sponsor;
(B) Students who are economically disadvantaged as provided in subdivision (d)(5), if the enrollment preference is used by the public charter school;
(C) Students enrolled in a charter school that has an articulation agreement with the enrolling public charter school; provided, that the articulation agreement has been approved by the authorizer;
(D) Siblings of students already enrolled in the public charter school;
(E) Students residing within the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located who were enrolled in another public school during the previous school year; and
(F) Students residing outside the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located.
(5) A public charter school may give an enrollment preference to students who are economically disadvantaged, as defined in § 49-3-104. A public charter school may request information to verify that a student is economically disadvantaged on the application submitted pursuant to subdivision (d)(1) for purposes of an enrollment lottery, but shall not require it. Only students who legally qualify may be given an enrollment preference pursuant to this subdivision (d)(5).
(6) A public charter school may 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 ten percent (10%) of the public charter school’s total enrollment or twenty-five (25) students, whichever is less.
(7)

(A) A charter school shall provide to the department of education certification by an independent accounting firm or by a law firm that each lottery conducted for enrollment purposes complied with the requirements of this section. In lieu of such certification, a charter school may request that the department of education review and approve the lottery process.
(B) The charter school shall comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. § 1232g), with respect to the publication of any students’ names before, during, or after the enrollment and lottery process.
(8) The state board of education is authorized to promulgate rules concerning lottery enrollment. The rules shall be promulgated in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5.
(e) Public charter schools authorized by the achievement school district (ASD) shall conduct an initial student application period of at least thirty (30) days. During this period, all students zoned to attend or currently enrolled in a school that is eligible to be placed in the ASD may enroll. If, at the end of the initial student enrollment period, the number of eligible students seeking to enroll does not exceed the public charter school’s capacity or the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building, then the public charter school may enroll additional students residing within the geographic boundaries of the LEA in which the public charter school is located; provided, however, that a public charter school’s total enrollment of such students shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the public charter school’s total enrollment.
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