Proposed Charter Legislation to Expand Eligibility Requirements Fails in Tennessee

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=9&screen=news&news_id=55969

Tennessee lawmakers have failed to pass new legislation that would have allowed children from schools that were not on the NCLB low-performing list to apply to charter schools as long as they were receiving free or reduced lunch. The current law allows students to apply for a charter school only if they are either attending a school that is low-performing, are low-performing themselves, or have previously attended a charter school. Rep. Beth Harwell, the bill's sponsor, said she hoped state lawmakers did not see charters as a financial burden on public schools systems. "The money should follow the child," she said. "We should be doing everything we can to help children, not being worried about money.If anything, public charter schools are doing this for less because they receive no funds for building, they receive no money for transportation and so they have to cover that at their own expense." She pledges to push the bill through the legislature next year.

Source: Nashville City Paper
Date: 05/02/2007