MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — As Rutherford Collegiate Prep, a public charter school, looks to open its doors in August, a debate is brewing in Rutherford county over the calculations behind how public charter schools like RCP get public money.
Frances Rosales is on the Rutherford County School board. She says she's all for the idea of school choice.
"I believe in giving parents choice of where they send their kids for education," Rosales said.
But what she says she opposes is how charter schools, like Rutherford Collegiate Prep, are lined up to get public dollars.
She says new charters are allowed to look forward -- to next year's projected student population — to determine how much public funding they get.
Whereas other Rutherford County Schools are only allowed to look backward — with its funding based on what their previous year's school enrollment was.
With how fast the area is growing, it's a calculation that Rosales says makes millions of dollars in difference.
"If you know about our current trend, we are trending about 1200 new students per year, and if we got the same treatment, we'd get an additional $12 million," Rosales said.
Eve Carney, an executive with Noble Education Initiatie, the group overseeing the charter school, said:
"At its core, TISA is about funding students, based on their individual needs. As a public charter school, RCP receives the TISA funding only for the students they will educate, and there is a built-in process each year where enrollment is “trued up” to reflect actual enrollment twice per year. We are proud to be a public choice option in Rutherford County. We are even more proud that over 1600 Rutherford County families thought RCP could serve their family's needs and are excited to welcome over 750 of them this fall into our community at RCP.”
But Rosales says she takes issue with the school's opening in the first place, because the Rutherford County School Board already voted the charter school down.
The state-appointed Public Charter School Commission reversed the local school board's vote.
"It is an example of the government and saying to the local level, 'we know what's best.'" Rosales said.
Rosales says she's hoping state legislation will soon put everyone on what she says is the same playing field, with all school systems able to look not to the past for their funding, but to the future.
A spokesperson for the Rutherford County Schools said:
Rutherford County Schools understands the importance of school choice, and our elected School Board has authorized the creation of two charter schools. The issue is these charter schools are receiving funding on projected enrollment instead of prior year enrollment like our traditional schools. This discrepancy is costing the district $10-$15 million for the 2024-2025 school year. Charter schools and traditional schools are both public schools, and as such, the funding mechanism should be equitable.
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