TDOE Charter School Expansion Grants Awarded To 15 Applicants
Awards Will Fund 8,800 New Charter School Seats For Tennessee Students Friday, May 7, 2021
The Tennessee Department of Education on Friday announced that 15 applicants have been awarded subgrants under the Charter School Expansion Grant, including two in Hamilton County. These funds are intended to support sponsors throughout the planning, design, application, and potential launch of new charter schools in the state.
These subgrants will fund up to 8,800 new charter school seats that, subject to authorizer approval, will be available to students in five districts that currently do not have any charter schools and in three districts that already authorize charter schools.
After a two-month process, Williamson County Schools charter school review committee decided that they do not recommend Foundations Autism Charter School s application for approval.
Maria Griego, committee chair and WCS executive director of student support services, shared the decision at the Board of Education s April work session Thursday and in a memo provided beforehand. The committee did not believe this charter school was able to provide something that WCS wasn t able to provide, Griego said at the work session.
In February, Sheri Homishak and Daniel Byrdsong, the former chief clinical officer and chief financial officer of Autism in Motion Clinics, submitted the application for consideration to operate as a Tennessee public charter school within the WCS district by next year.