Nashville Parents Explore Trigger Law for Takeover

Dissatisfied parents and elected officials from West Nashville are exploring a never-before-utilized state law that would allow a public school to be converted into a parent-controlled charter school.

Under the so-called trigger law, if 60 percent of the parents or teachers at a public school sign a petition, the school board then votes on whether to approve converting the school into a charter. In Tennessee, a charter school is financed with tax dollars but privately operated by a nonprofit group.

Two meetings have been scheduled to study the law and the requirements for garnering the petitions and beginning the conversion.