(a) No later than April 1 of the year prior to the year in which the charter expires, the governing body of a public charter school seeking renewal shall submit a renewal application to the local board of education, if the local board of education is the authorizer, or to the commission or the local board of education, if the commission is the authorizer, on the standardized application form developed by the department of education.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 49-13-121

  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • 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
  • Charter agreement: means a fixed-term renewable agreement between a public charter school and the authorizer that outlines the rights, responsibilities, and performance expectations of each party. 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
  • 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
  • Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
  • 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
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) A public charter school renewal application must contain a report of the public charter school’s operations, including students’ standardized test scores, financial statements, and audits for the eight (8) years immediately preceding the date of the renewal application.
(c) Three (3) months prior to the date on which a public charter school is required to submit a renewal application, the authorizer shall submit to the public charter school a performance report that reflects the renewal evaluation.
(d) On or before the February 1 of the year in which the charter expires, the authorizer to which the renewal application was submitted shall rule by resolution to approve or deny the public charter school’s renewal application. The authorizer shall consider the renewal application, the annual progress reports required under § 49-13-120, and the renewal performance report required under subsection (b) when deciding whether to approve or deny the public charter school’s renewal application.
(e)

(1) Until 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2020:

(A) A local board of education’s decision to deny a renewal application may be appealed by the governing body to the state board of education no later than ten (10) days after the date of the local board of education’s decision;
(B) If the state board of education finds that the local board of education’s decision to deny renewal of a charter agreement is contrary to the best interest of the students, LEA, or community, and the renewal application is for a public charter school in an LEA that does not contain a school on the current or last preceding priority school list, then the state board of education shall remand the decision to the local board of education with written instructions for approval of the renewal application. The local board of education shall remain the authorizer;
(C) If the state board of education finds that the local board of education’s decision not to renew a charter agreement was contrary to the best interests of the students, LEA, or community, and the renewal application is for a public charter school in an LEA that contains at least one (1) school on the current or last preceding priority school list, then the state board of education shall approve the renewal application and the state board of education shall be the authorizer; and
(D) A decision by the state board of education to deny the renewal of a charter agreement is final and is not subject to appeal.
(2) This subsection (e) is repealed at 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2020.
(f) Beginning immediately upon the repeal of subsection (e):

(1) A local board of education’s decision to deny a renewal application may be appealed by the governing body to the commission no later than ten (10) days after the date of the local board of education’s decision;
(2) If the commission finds that the local board of education’s decision to deny renewal of a charter agreement is contrary to the best interest of the students, LEA, or community, then the commission shall approve the renewal application and the commission shall become the authorizer. A decision by the commission to deny the renewal charter agreement is final and is not subject to appeal; and
(3) If the commission approves the renewal of a charter agreement on appeal from a local board of education, then the public charter school and the commission shall enter into a renewed charter agreement in accordance with § 49-13-110(a).
(g) If a public charter school renewal application is approved, then the term of the renewed charter agreement shall be for ten (10) academic years.
(h) A decision to deny renewal of a charter agreement becomes effective at the close of the school year.
(i) No later than ten (10) days after an authorizer adopts a resolution to renew or deny renewal of a charter agreement, the authorizer shall report the authorizer’s decision to the department of education and shall provide a copy of the resolution that sets forth the authorizer’s decision and the reasons for the decision.
(j) If a public charter school voluntarily closes, then the public charter school’s agreement with the authorizer ceases to be effective as of the public charter school’s closing date.
(k) The authorizer shall conduct an interim review of a public charter school in the fifth year of a public charter school’s initial period of operation and in the fifth year following any renewal of a charter agreement under guidelines developed by the department of education. The guidelines must require a public charter school to submit a report to the authorizer on the progress of the public charter school in achieving its goals and objectives, including student performance and other terms of the approved charter agreement.
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