Can a Tennessee priority school assigned to the Achievement School District add new grades on its own?

Plain-English summary

Tennessee's Achievement School District (ASD), created by the 2010 First to the Top Act, takes over the state's lowest-performing schools (so-called "priority schools," those scoring in the bottom 5% statewide) and runs them as an organizational unit of the Tennessee Department of Education. A state representative asked whether a priority school assigned to the ASD can later add grades it did not serve at the time of assignment, for example, a K-5 priority school adding grades 6-8. The AG said no.

The reason is structural. When the commissioner of education places a school in the ASD, the commissioner takes over operational control under Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-614(a)-(b). The commissioner may run the school directly or contract with a third-party operator. Either way, the school itself has no independent decision-making authority. Since the school cannot independently decide anything about its operations, it cannot decide to add grades. Decisions about grade expansion would have to come from the commissioner or the contracted operator, not the school.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2016. 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.

Common questions

Q: What is the Achievement School District?
A: An organizational unit of the Tennessee Department of Education, established by the 2010 First to the Top Act, that takes over and operates the state's lowest-performing schools (priority schools, bottom 5% statewide). The Commissioner of Education administers it under Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-614(a).

Q: How does a school end up in the ASD?
A: The commissioner places a priority school within the ASD's jurisdiction when intervention by the State Board of Education is needed to improve academic achievement. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-1-602(b)(2)(C), -614(c). It is a state-level, top-down placement decision.

Q: What happens to the school's local decision-making after placement?
A: It vanishes. The commissioner takes over operations and may either run the school directly or contract with a third-party operator. The school does not run itself, so it cannot add grades, change curriculum, or make other operational decisions on its own.

Q: Could the ASD commissioner authorize a grade expansion?
A: The opinion does not directly address that question, but logically yes, the commissioner exercises the operational authority and could decide to add grades, or could direct a third-party operator to do so. The narrow point of this opinion is that the school itself, as a legal actor, lacks that power.

Q: Can a school leave the ASD?
A: The opinion doesn't address exit, but the ASD framework contemplates state-led intervention to turn schools around. A school can return to the local LEA's jurisdiction when the commissioner decides intervention is no longer needed.

Background and statutory framework

The First to the Top Act of 2010 created the ASD as a state-level mechanism to turn around chronically low-performing schools. Priority schools (bottom 5% statewide) are eligible for ASD placement when state-level intervention is appropriate. § 49-1-602(b)(2). Once in the ASD, the school is administered by the commissioner of education, who can operate it directly or contract with operators (often charter management organizations). § 49-1-614(a)-(b).

The opinion turns on the absence of any statutory grant of operational authority to the schools themselves once they are in the ASD. The commissioner has "the authority to directly operate . . . any or all schools placed in the ASD." That authority sits at the state level. The school as an entity is operated, not operating.

Citations

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-602 (priority schools, ASD definition)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-602(b)(2)(C) (commissioner's power to place priority schools in ASD)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-614(a)-(b) (ASD administration; commissioner's operational authority)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2016/op16-50.pdf

Original opinion text

Authority of a Priority School to Add Additional Grades

Question
If the commissioner of education assigns a priority school that does not serve all grades pre-K through twelve to the Achievement School District, are there any circumstances under which the school may subsequently add grades other than those that the priority school served when it was assigned to the Achievement School District?

Opinion
No. Once a school has been placed in the Achievement School District the school itself may not add grades because it has no independent control over its operations while it is in the Achievement School District.

ANALYSIS

The Achievement School District ("ASD") is an organizational unit of the Tennessee Department of Education that is administered by the commissioner of education. Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-614(a). The ASD was created by Tennessee's First to the Top Act of 2010 as a way to improve the state's lowest performing schools. The ASD is primarily comprised of priority schools, i.e., those schools with academic achievement levels ranking in the bottom five percent in the state. Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-602(b)(2). When intervention by the State Board of Education is necessary to improve academic achievement levels, the commissioner may place a priority school within the jurisdiction of the ASD. See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-1-602(b)(2)(C), -614(c).

The commissioner is authorized to provide oversight for the operation of priority schools within the jurisdiction of the ASD. Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-614(a). The commissioner has "the authority to directly operate . . . any or all schools placed in the ASD, including, but not limited to, providing direct services to students." Id., § 49-1-614(b). Alternatively, the commissioner may contract with third parties to operate and manage the schools. Id. Either way, the schools themselves have no independent decision-making authority over their operations while they are in the ASD. Since a school within the ASD has no independent decision-making authority, it follows that a school may not itself add grades after it has been placed in the ASD.

HERBERT H. SLATERY III
Attorney General and Reporter

ANDRÉE SOPHIA BLUMSTEIN
Solicitor General

TAYLOR W. JENKINS
Assistant Attorney General

Requested by:
The Honorable Antonio Parkinson
State Representative
36B Legislative Plaza
Nashville, Tennessee 37243