The County School Board voted Thursday night not to approve Adira Academy charter school’s application to teach elementary school students in Hamilton County.
Board Chairman Kenny Smith cast the only yes vote, saying he felt two other local charter schools were doing well.
Officials of Adira Academy will have 15 days in which to perfect their application and try again with the school board.
Administration officials said the application is still deficient in several areas.
At an earlier meeting, school officials gave the proposal just 57.49 of a possible 100 points – and zero points for “financial health and stability.”
Applicant Marcia Griffin indicated she will continue to work on the application for the Florida-based school.
In other action, board members had a lot of questions about a bill for almost $18,000 for cheerleader outfits.
School officials said that type expense is normally covered at the school level, and board members were assured that the cost will be covered by funds from the new East Hamilton School.
The outfits are for high school and middle school cheerleaders at the school.
Board members questioned why the order came in two shipments from a supplier in Memphis - with one shipping bill for $507 and another for $760.50.
Board member Rhonda Thurman said, "They should have been able to get those little bitty uniforms into one box."
The board also voted to continue paying Southern Strategy Group to lobby the General Assembly for Hamilton County as well as four other large school systems (Memphis, Shelby County, Knox and Nashville/Davidson County).
The total bill for the lobbying for the Coalition of Large School Systems is $180,000.
Ms. Thurman cast a no vote, saying the legislators should speak up for the large schools, and she said the state had no money to lobby for at the current time.