Once a Tennessee school board approves a charter school application, can district staff demand more negotiation before signing the charter agreement, or does approval automatically lock in the agreement?

Plain-English summary

State Board of Education Executive Director Gary Nixon asked the AG a single sharp question: once a local school board votes by resolution to approve a charter school application, can the district's staff still require more negotiation with the sponsor before anyone signs the charter agreement? The AG said no.

The reasoning sat in Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-110(a). That section says the chartering authority's approval of an application "shall be in the form of a written agreement signed by the sponsor and the chartering authority, which shall be binding upon the governing body of the public charter school." It also says the charter agreement "shall be in writing and contain all components of the application." Taken together, those two sentences make approval and signing one operation, not two. The application itself becomes the charter agreement once the board approves it.

The AG walked through the application timeline to reinforce the point. A sponsor (any individual, group, or organization supporting the school) files an application with the chartering authority, which is the local school board. § 49-13-108(1) gives the board 60 days to approve or deny. If the board makes no decision within 60 days, the application is automatically deemed approved. Approval triggers the binding charter agreement, with the application's components becoming the operative terms.

Staff-driven post-approval renegotiation would conflict with that statutory structure. The opinion did not say staff are barred from talking with the sponsor about implementation details; it said staff cannot use those talks to delay the signing or to extract new commitments not in the approved application. If the board itself wants different terms, the right channel is amendment under § 49-13-110(b), which lets the governing body of the charter school petition the chartering authority to amend the original charter.

The AG also pointed to the denial-and-resubmit channel under § 49-13-108(2): if the board denies the application, the sponsor has 15 days to submit an amended application. That structure further indicates that negotiations belong at the application or amendment stage, not in a free-form pre-signing renegotiation.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2010. Tennessee's charter school framework has been amended multiple times since, and additional chartering authorities and review structures have been added (including the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission). Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Background and statutory framework

The Tennessee Public Charter Schools Act, codified at Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-101 et seq., was enacted in 2002 to allow the creation of public schools operating under a charter agreement. A charter school can be created two ways: as a newly created public school, or by converting an existing public school. § 49-13-106. The opinion addresses the new-school path.

Key definitions are in § 49-13-104. A "sponsor" is "any individual, group, or other organization who files an application in support of the establishment of the charter school." A "chartering authority" is the local school board. The "charter agreement" is the binding contract under which the charter school operates.

The approval timeline runs through § 49-13-108. The board has 60 days. Silence equals approval. § 49-13-110(a) then puts the binding document in place: the approval is itself the written agreement, signed by both sides. § 49-13-110(b) provides the amendment path: the charter school's governing body may petition for amendment.

Read as a whole, the statute treats the application as the substantive proposal, the board's approval as the commitment, and the signed agreement as the formal embodiment of what was already agreed. The opinion treats efforts to renegotiate substantive terms after approval as outside the statute's design.

Common questions

Q: Could staff add operational terms (like a calendar or a transportation plan) after approval?
A: The opinion read § 49-13-110(a) to say the charter agreement contains all components of the application, with the binding terms set at approval. If operational details were not in the application, the board would need to use the amendment channel under § 49-13-110(b), not a unilateral staff demand.

Q: What if the application had clear errors or omissions?
A: The denial-and-resubmit path under § 49-13-108(2) was the right channel for a deficient application: the board denied, the sponsor had 15 days to fix and resubmit. Post-approval haggling was not a substitute for that process.

Q: Did this opinion bar all post-approval conversations between staff and the sponsor?
A: No. It barred conditioning the signing on further negotiation. Routine implementation talks (orientation, reporting schedules, technical onboarding) were not the issue.

Q: What was the consequence if a board failed to act within 60 days?
A: § 49-13-108(1) deemed the application approved by operation of law. The same § 49-13-110(a) reasoning then applied: the approved application became the charter agreement.

Q: Why did the AG read approval and signing as one operation rather than two?
A: § 49-13-110(a)'s text said the approval "shall be in the form of a written agreement signed by the sponsor and the chartering authority." That formulation collapsed approval and signing into a single legal moment. The opinion treated the two as inseparable.

Citations and references

Statutes:

• Tennessee Public Charter Schools Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-101 et seq.
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-104(1) (charter agreement definition)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-104(2) (chartering authority)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-104(6) (charter school definition)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-104(7) (sponsor definition)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-106 (creation by new school or conversion)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-106(b)(1) (application filing)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-106(b)(1)(B) (application as agreement)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-108(1) (60-day decision; deemed approval)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-108(2) (15-day resubmission after denial)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-110(a) (approval as signed written agreement)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-110(b) (amendment by petition)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2010/op10-045.pdf

Original opinion text

Execution of Charter School Agreements

QUESTION

After a local board of education rules "by resolution, at a regular or special called meeting, on the approval or denial of a charter application," must the written agreement be signed at the same time? Or, may the local education agency staff require further negotiation with the charter school sponsor before signing a charter agreement?

OPINION

There is no distinction between approving a charter school application and signing a charter school application. Because approval by the local education agency creates the charter agreement, the local education agency cannot require further negotiation with the charter school sponsor.

ANALYSIS

In 2002, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the "Tennessee Public Charter Schools Act" (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). See Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-101 et seq. A charter school is a public school "established and [operated] under the terms of a charter agreement and in accordance with [the Act]." See Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-104(6). A charter school may be created by two different processes: (1) it can be a newly created public school or (2) it can be converted from an existing public school. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-106. This opinion request concerns the application process for a newly created public school.

To create a new charter school, a "sponsor" files an application with the chartering authority, the local school board. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-13-104(2) and 49-13-106(b)(1). A "sponsor" is any individual, group, or other organization who files an application in support of the establishment of the charter school. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-13-104(7). The chartering authority has sixty days to approve or deny an application; if the chartering authority makes no decision within sixty days, the application is deemed approved. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-13-108(1). If approval is granted, the charter application becomes the charter agreement. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-13-104(1); 49-13-106(b)(1)(B); 49-13-108(1); and 49-13-110(a). Tenn. Code Ann. 49-13-110(a) states as follows:

The approval by the chartering authority of a public charter school application shall be in the form of a written agreement signed by the sponsor and the chartering authority, which shall be binding upon the governing body of the public charter school. The charter agreement for a public charter school shall be in writing and contain all components of the application.

It should be noted that if the chartering authority denies a charter school application, the sponsor may re-submit an amended application within fifteen (15) days. See Tenn. Code Ann. 49-13-108(2). Additionally, pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. 49-13-110(b), the governing body of a charter school may petition the chartering authority to amend the original charter.

ROBERT E. COOPER, JR.
Attorney General and Reporter

MICHAEL E. MOORE
Solicitor General

MELISSA ANN MOREAU
Assistant Attorney General

Requested by:
The Honorable Gary L. Nixon
Executive Director
State Board of Education
9th Floor, Andrew Johnson Tower
710 James Robertson Parkway
Nashville, TN 37243-1050