Charter Schools SCOPE

This policy shall apply to Sponsors and potential Sponsors of newly created public charter schools. It shall not apply to public charter schools converted from existing public schools pursuant to TCA 49-13-106 (b) (2). DEFINITION A charter school shall be a public, nonsectarian, non-religious, non-home based school which operates within a public school district. It shall be subject to all state and federal laws and constitutional provi-sions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, gender, national origin, religion, ancestry or need for special education services.1 The purposes of charter schools are to:2 (1) Improve learning for all students and close the achievement gap between high and low students; (2) Provide options for parents to meet educational needs of students in high priority schools; (3) Encourage the use of different and innovative teaching methods, and provide greater decision mak-ing authority to schools and teachers in exchange for greater responsibility for student performan-ce; (4) Measure performance of pupils and faculty, and ensure that children have the opportunity to reac