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Bill to require charter renewal notices and automatic renewal for top-performing schools advances from K-12 Subcommittee
Summary
The subcommittee adopted an untimely amendment and sent House Bill 2177 to full education by a 5–1 vote. The bill would require authorizers to notify charter schools of renewal status, publish that status, provide automatic renewal for very high-performing schools that meet TVAAS level and indicator thresholds, and ease small-audit burdens under $50,000.
Chairman Slater explained that House Bill 2177 would require authorizers to annually notify each authorized public charter school of its renewal status and publish that information in an annual authorizing report. He said the bill also creates automatic renewal for qualifying high-performing public charter schools that meet multi-year performance growth and financial standards.
Committee member Representative Mackenzie asked what the bill means by "high performing." Elizabeth Babash of the Tennessee Charter School Center testified that the legislation specifies TVAAS (TVOS in the transcript) level 4 or 5 — above expectations — and that 75% of the indicators on the school performance framework must be met. Babash said the standard "is a very high bar to meet." Hayden Pendergrass of the Tennessee Charter School Commission added that schools must also have no significant audit findings for the full 10-year charter term to qualify for automatic renewal.
The bill also clarifies financial-audit requirements: a public school or charter school with less than $50,000 combined in internal school funds and student activity funds would not be required to conduct separate audits for each fund. After testimony and Q&A, the clerk reported a committee vote of 5 ayes and 1 no; HB2177 will proceed to the full Education Committee.
