Amended charter school bills pass out of House education committee

Two pieces of legislation aimed at Tennessee districts' administration of charter schools both passed their first challenge in a House education committee.

Neither left the House Education and Instruction committee without amendments and both were passed through the committee with little discussion.

The first bill, House Bill 267, increases the amount a charter school must pay in applying to operate within a district. The bill was amended to say a chartering authority may require a charter school sponsor to pay an application fee of up to $2,500 for each application. The current amount charter school operators must pay is $500, according to Rep. Harry Brooks, R-Knoxville, the bill's sponsor.

With its passage, the bill will head to a House finance committee.

The other bill, House Bill 310, sets forth rules for charter school administration statewide and also includes money for charter school facilities in the state. House Bill 310 is one of the bills key to Gov. Bill Haslam's education agenda this year and was introduced by Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville.

The bill will head to a government operations committee with a key amendment that changes how much an authorizer can charge.

The amendment says the local board of education, as a charter authorizer, can receive an annual fee that is a percentage of the charter school’s per student state and local funding. The annual authorizer fee “shall be the lesser of three percent of the annual per student state and local allocations or thirty five thousand dollars per school,” according to the amendment.

The original text of the bill said districts could levy a 1-3 percent fee of the annual per student state and local allocations depending on how many schools are within the district.

Tennessee charter school bill sets funds aside for facilities

It’s unclear how much the amendment changes recurring revenue for the districts, but the original bill’s fiscal note said it would raise almost a million for Nashville and just over a million for Shelby County Schools.

The bill would also create a charter school facilities fund where schools can apply for grants to assist with school facility needs.

In total, the bill will cost the state about $6 million in non-recurring funds in the 2017-18 school to create a Charter Schools Facilities Fund. The money was specified under the governor’s budget and will be invested by the Tennessee treasury, according to the bill’s fiscal note.

There are 104 charter schools total across the state, with Shelby County Schools having authorized the majority of those schools.

Shelby has 45, Nashville has 28, the Achievement School District has 26, Hamilton County Schools has four and Knox County Schools has one, according the Tennessee Department of Education’s numbers.

Reach Jason Gonzales at jagonzales@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.