Under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act, parents can file a report if they believe classroom materials are inappropriate. KCS banned “Roots” because of Chapter 84, which describes the rape of an enslaved woman by a plantation owner.
“I do remember being a child and watching that miniseries with the world,” said Rev. Reneé Kesler, the president of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. “There was a lot, and it was overwhelming, but I’ve never forgotten it.”
A group of Tennessee public school parents joined with faith leaders to oppose the establishment of a publicly-funded, explicitly religious charter school.
An email from the Education Law Center offers details:
The lawsuit, The Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville v. Knox County Board of Education, was filed in November 2025 by a religious organization that wants to run a public charter school—funded by taxpayers—that, according to the school’s own legal complaint, would provide an “explicitly biblical and Christian education.” The proposed intervenors are seeking to join the lawsuit on the side of the defendants, the Knox County Board of Education and its members. They oppose Wilberforce Academy’s effort to force the defendants to authorize and fund it as a religious public charter school.
Amanda Collins is one of those seeking to join the suit and stop the religious charter school:
“Public education is part of the common good. A religious charter school would be at odds with the need to ensure public schools remain appropriate for and welcoming to students of all faiths, families, and backgrounds,” said proposed intervenor Amanda Collins, a retired school psychologist and parent of Knox County public school students. “And it would divert already limited public funds and scarce resources away from other public schools in Knox County. We can’t let this happen.”
Faith leaders are also joining the effort:
“The Reformed tradition in which I am formed has long supported the separation of church and state, believing that our faith, and all faiths, are best supported when they are free of undue state interference. This is why I object to the use of tax dollars to support religious education of any kind, including my own religion. Religious education is the job of churches, denominations, and private religious schools,” said the Rev. Dr. Richard Coble, another proposed intervenor, who is a pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Knoxville and the parent of two Knox County public school students.
Despite the Knox County School Board voting to ask the Tennessee General Assembly to reject efforts to ask schools to enforce immigration law/ask for proof of legal status, the district’s Superintendent indicates he’s ICE-friendly.
With the ongoing push for immigration enforcement, some are wondering whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will be allowed come into Knox County Schools.
KCS Superintendent Dr. Jon Rysewyk stated that the schools would have the same protocols with ICE as with any other law enforcement agency, saying, “We will follow the law.” He also specified that there had not been a situation where ICE had asked to enter a KCS classroom.
A KCS spokesperson added weasel words:
“KCS takes the safety and security of our school campuses seriously. We do not give any entity access to students or educational records without legal authorization. In accordance with state and federal law, we do not maintain records on the immigration status of students,” a KCS spokesperson said. “As always, we will follow the law and we will verify any documents necessitating access to school campuses through the Knox County Law Department. Our priority is and always will remain the safety of our students.”
Let’s be 100% clear: Allowing ICE on school campuses threatens the safety of students, teachers, and school communities. Anything short of a refusal to allow ICE to come on to school property is the same thing as saying you are OK with ICE and with the disruption and threat to safety they pose.
Educators who wish to put students first will reject the tactics of ICE, period. Those, like the Knox County Director of Schools, who suggest cooperation with a masked, paramilitary group that demonstrates zero accountability are, in fact, a part of the problem.
Dr. Rysewyk, your policy of appeasement is noted, and students in your care are less safe because of it.
The Knoxville News-Sentinelreports on letter grades assigned to Knox County Schools:
Knox County Schools has made significant improvements on the individual school level, with 42 schools earning high marks in the “school letter grades” announced by the Tennessee Department of Education.
The department released the grades Dec. 19 in its 2024-2025 State Report Card. Twenty of Knox County’s schools received an “A,” and 22 schools received a “B,” which together represent more than half of the 81 schools graded in the county.
Knoxville Preparatory School, an all-boys charter school that opened in fall 2024, failed to meet or fell far below nine of 25 state standards and must work to get up to requirements.
The school struggled in finance management, boosting enrollment compared to projections, protecting the rights of students with disabilities, and complying with government requirements . . .
Sam Stockard over at Tennessee Lookouttakes a look at the crumbling wall of separation between church and state as it relates to education in Tennessee:
The latest disassembly involves an opinion by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti saying the state’s prohibition on religious-based charter schools “likely” violates the free exercise of religion in the First Amendment.
Skrmetti wrote the opinion at the request of Republican state Rep. Michelle Carringer of Knoxville who has a bill relating to charter schools. Carringer said Thursday she requested the opinion for “legal clarity” on the relationship between the Constitution and Tennessee charter laws but has no plans to bring legislation related to it.
The opinion is of interest as a Christian charter operator in Knox County is suing for the right to operate an explicitly Christian “public” charter school using state and local funds.
The Knox County School Board is asking the General Assembly to reject legislation that would require schools to check for immigration documentation before allowing a student to attend.
The Knox County school board will ask Tennessee legislators to stop a bill that could block public education for undocumented immigrants.
The legislature in 2026 could once again take up a bill designed to challenge established rules allowing those without legal status to have the same education access as those who were born here. Board members used their annual legislative priorities list to say they want to educate all students regardless of their immigration status.
The board voted 6-3 to include the priority with two Republicans joining the Democratic minority Dec. 4. Members Betsy Henderson, Lauren Morgan and Steve Triplett voted against it.
Knox County school board members will decide Dec. 4 whether to support a Tennessee bill requiring schools to verify students’ immigration status before allowing them into the classroom.
The General Assembly could take up a bill in 2026 designed specifically to challenge a 1982 Supreme Court decision that guarantees access to public schools for all children regardless of their immigration status. Two school board members – Katherine Bike and Anne Templeton – are urging their colleagues to tell lawmakers the Knox County school board opposes the bill.
A new Christian nonprofit attempting to operate a charter school in Knoxville has sued the Knox County Board of Education, asserting the board discriminated against the nonprofit because state and local policies won’t allow “unapologetically Christian” schools to apply.
I suspect that since state dollars flow to explicitly religious private schools by way of vouchers, there’s really little difference when the state and/or a local school board sends funds to an explicitly religious charter school.
Wilberforce Academy is hardly the first openly religious school to offer the pretense of being a fully “public” charter school.
Five proposed charter schools affiliated with controversial Michigan-based Hillsdale College would drain more than $17 million from Tennessee suburban and rural public schools during their first year of operation and roughly $35 million per year at maximum enrollment, according to a new fiscal analysis by Public School Partners (PSP) and Charter Fiscal Impact.
Divided School Board votes against adding Lee’s voucher scam to legislative agenda
The Knox County School Board will not ask lawmakers to support Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher push, despite an attempt by the Board’s GOP majority to adopt the issue.
All Republicans except District 5 representative Lauren Morgan and District 9 representative Kristi Kristy voted Jan. 9 in favor of asking lawmakers to expand Tennessee’s private school voucher program. Kristy took a “pass” vote and Morgan voted “no.”
Morgan explained her “no” vote:
I don’t believe it’s in this board’s realm of duties to make vouchers a legislative priority as we don’t have control over what the legislator does. I think it’s our job here on this board to make Knox County Schools the best that they can possibly be and be the place where our students and our families want to get an education and choose to go to school.”
