The Birmingham Board of Education on Thursday denied charter school applicant i3 Academy, which had hoped to open in the Woodlawn community in the fall of 2020. The board voted 8-1 to accept Superintendent Lisa Herring’s recommendation to deny the application during a special-called meeting. Board member Mary Boehm cast the sole vote against the recommendation.

This is the third applicant the Birmingham school board has denied since becoming an authorizer in 2016. It has not yet approved a charter applicant.

In 2017, the board denied the application of STAR Academy, now Legacy Prep, which appealed to the state charter school commission and received approval. Legacy Prep was one of three charter schools in Alabama that received federal grant money and plans to open in fall 2019.

Cedric Tatum, who oversees charter school applications in the school system, read results of an external review of the charter school’s application to the board during the meeting. Tatum said the review shows the school “partially meets standards” in three areas: educational design, operations, and financial planning. Copies of the review were not made available at the meeting but school officials did provide a copy to AL.com in response to a request.

Community members asked the board to vote no, and some said a ‘yes’ vote would cost board members their vote in the 2021 election.

After the vote, Board President Cheri Gardner said the charter school’s “As an authorizer, we have a responsibility to authorize strong applications. There were several deficiencies in this application,” she said. “Considering the number of deficiencies in the application, it was important for us not to approve it.”

Gardner said this was not a vote on charter schools in general. “Had it been a quality application," she said, "we would likely have approved it.”

Former State Superintendent Tommy Bice serves as board chairman of i3 Academy and after the meeting said he was disappointed the application was denied. “We’ll meet in the morning with our parents and our community members that want to see this happen," he said, "and we’ll figure out what we do next.”

“Our passion and our desire to make sure the children of Birmingham have educational opportunities that are high-quality will not be deterred based on this vote tonight.”

The Birmingham school board must provide a written denial to the applicant within 30 days stating the reasons for the denial. I3 Academy can appeal the decision to the Alabama Public Charter School Commission, which can overturn the Birmingham board’s decision, as it did with Legacy Prep.

After publication of the “failing” schools list on Jan. 18 showing Birmingham with 20 schools on the list, Superintendent Lisa Herring said in a statement, “We acknowledge and recognize that we have much work to do. We will use the ranking to continue to strategically improve our work in the areas of math and reading.” Herring was appointed superintendent in May 2017, the 10th person to lead the district in 18 years.

I3 Academy planned to open with 420 students in Kindergarten through fifth grade. The school was planning to purchase the former Woodlawn Baptist Church property and renovate the attached school, serving students in the community.

The charter school’s full application is online here.

Charter schools are public schools that trade flexibility from some of the rules for strict accountability and oversight by the charter authorizer---in this case the elected nine-member Birmingham school board.