Charter authorizer briefs Appropriations committee on growth, student outcomes and a financial review of a charter management organization

The Charter School Authorizer told the Appropriations committee the authorizer now oversees 12 approved charter schools (10 operating) and about 4,000 students statewide, and presented academic and financial information including a recent independent review of Republic Schools, a charter management organization (CMO) with financial practices the authorizer said required remediation.

The authorizer’s executive director (unnamed in the transcript) said the board’s mission is to "increase access to excellent public schools by authorizing only those schools who have the propensity to provide a high quality education to the children that they serve." The board reported it has doubled its portfolio since 2019, with six schools in central Jackson and single schools in Canton, Natchez, Greenwood and Clarksdale. Mississippi’s first charter high school expansion (Clarksdale Collegiate…