2016 Tennessee Code
Title 49 - Education
Chapter 13 - Tennessee Public Charter Schools Act of 2002
§ 49-13-121. Term of charter -- Renewal.

(a) New public charter schools, conversion schools and all renewals of charter agreements shall be for ten-year periods.

(b) (1) 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 shall submit a renewal application to the LEA, if the LEA is the chartering authority, or to the state board of education or the LEA, if the state board is the chartering authority. On or before the following February 1, the chartering authority to which the renewal application was submitted shall rule by resolution on whether to approve or deny the renewal application. The decision of the chartering authority shall be based on the report and evaluation required under § 49-13-120.

(2) (A) A decision by an LEA to deny a renewal application may be appealed by the governing body, within ten (10) days of the decision to deny, to the state board of education.

(B) If the application is for a charter school in an LEA that does not contain a priority school on the current or last preceding priority school list and if the state board of education directs the chartering authority to approve the renewal of the charter agreement, the public charter school shall continue to operate for the prescribed period of ten (10) academic years.

(C) If the application is for a charter school in an LEA that contains at least one (1) priority school on the current or last preceding priority school list and if the state board approves the renewal of the charter agreement, the public charter school shall continue to operate for the prescribed period of ten (10) academic years and the state board shall be the chartering authority.

(D) A decision by the state board to deny the renewal of a charter agreement shall be final. No appeal may be taken.

(3) If the public charter school submits its renewal application directly to the state board pursuant to subdivision (b)(1), then the decision of the state board on the renewal application is final and may not be appealed.

(c) A public charter school renewal application shall contain a report of the school's operations, including students' standardized test scores, financial statements and performance audits of the nine (9) years preceding the date of the renewal application. The department of education shall develop guidelines that govern the charter renewal application process.

(d) An interim review of a charter school shall be conducted by the chartering authority under guidelines developed by the department of education in the fifth year of a charter school's initial period of operation and also in the fifth year following any renewal of a charter agreement. Such guidelines shall require a charter school to submit to the chartering authority a report on the progress of the school in achieving the goals, objectives, pupil performance standards, content standards and other terms of the approved charter agreement.

(e) One (1) year prior to the date on which a charter school is required to submit a renewal application, the chartering authority shall submit to the charter school a performance report that directly reflects the renewal evaluation.