© 2024 88.9 KETR
Public Radio for Northeast Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Phoenix Charter School to appeal revocation

The PTAA campus will be located at 8501 Jack Finney Boulevard and 308 Aerobic Lane, in buildings previously used by the Phoenix Charter School, which closed earlier this year.
Brad Kellar
/
Greenville Herald-Banner
Officials with the Phoenix School in Greenville have scheduled a town hall meeting concerning a decision by the Texas Education Agency to revoke the school’s charter.";

Officials with the Phoenix Charter School in Greenville have announced they intend to appeal a decision by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to revoke the school’s charter.

A statement posted on the school’s web site Wednesday afternoon indicated that a town hall meeting concerning the issue has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Zeta Building on the Phoenix campus.

“School will continue as normal,” the statement said. “We look forward to seeing you on Monday. We are here to stay.”

Representatives with the school could not be reached for comment Wednesday about the TEA’s announcement this week that it had identified 14 open-enrollment charter schools, including Phoenix, that meet the legislative criteria for mandatory revocation of their charter under Senate Bill 2.

According to the TEA, Senate Bill 2, passed in 2013 by the Texas Legislature, requires mandatory revocation of a charter by the Commissioner of Education if a charter holder has failed to meet academic or financial accountability performance ratings for the three preceding school years.

Failure can include three years in one specific area (academic or financial), or any combination of the two. The TEA said the three school years where academic performance ratings were considered included 2010-2011, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. The school years where financial performance ratings were considered included 2011-2012, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014.

In addition to initiating revocation hearings, a conservator is being appointed to all 14 charter schools. The conservator will be responsible for overseeing the financial management and governance of the charter school to ensure the school complies with state and federal law; attending board meetings (including executive session) and directing the board as necessary to address the findings in a final report; and overseeing all close-out activities of the charter school.

All 14 schools received notice from the Commissioner this week. Each charter school may request an informal review regarding the decision to revoke. To initiate that process, the TEA must receive written notice from the school by Jan. 12, 2015.

If the decision to revoke is upheld in an informal review, the issue would then be sent to the State Office of Administrative Hearings for a final hearing. In that instance, the decision of the administrative law judge is final and cannot be appealed. The Phoenix School opened in 1986 and since its inception, has expanded to an open enrollment charter for the 2001/2002 school year. The school currently serves approximately 600 students in pre-K through the 12th grade.

A representative with the Greenville Independent School District said Wednesday that the district was aware of the situation, but would await a final decision concerning the status of the Phoenix school before taking any action.