Video: Charter School In Columbus Rejected

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi will get its second charter school.

The state’s Charter School Advisory Board voted Friday to approve an application by Midtown Partners, a Jackson community group that plans to open a middle school serving up to 220 students in grades 5-8. The board lauded the school’s plan to model operations on a successful charter school in Massachusetts.

The board Friday denied an application by Inspire Charter Schools in Columbus for a school serving 360 students in grades K-6. The Columbus group was a finalist but was denied for the second straight round of applications. The board found the school’s plan for curriculum, operations and finances all had flaws.

Maybe the third time will be the charm for the Columbus group, which says it plans to apply again next year.

“We have to ramp up our fund raising. We have a lot of people who say they are supportive, but it’s got to translate to dollars on paper in terms of commitment. The other one is we have to get some people to sign up and thirdly, we have to do a couple of things on our application to get it a little bit more robust,” explained Darren Leach, one of the Columbus school’s organizers.

The board did vote to allow a private group to open a charter school in Jackson.

Earlier this year, the board approved Mississippi’s first charter school. Reimagine Prep in Jackson, serving grades 5-8, plans a fall 2015 opening.

The board did vote to allow a private group to open a charter school in Jackson