Mississippi Votes to Close Its Top-Performing Charter School

CANTON, MS, UNITED STATES, October 26, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board (MCSAB) voted today to move toward revoking the charter of SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy (SR1 CPSA), the school whose third graders posted the highest state reading pass rate of any charter school in Mississippi last spring.

Of the Board's seven members, one was absent for a family matter and three took part only by telephone. Before voting, no member asked the school a single question about its current situation.

The vote moves toward closing a school of 124 students in Canton, nearly nine in ten of them economically disadvantaged, that is on a trajectory to become the first charter school in Mississippi to earn an A rating. It does so on a record in which the Board's own Hearing Officer found that the Board never proved it provided the school any corrective intervention, that no witness testified to the nutrition violation the Board alleged, and that the Board's own financial witness confirmed the school had never failed to pay a bill.

"The Board did not move toward closing a failing school," said Tamu Green, Founder and President of SR1 CPSA. "It is moving toward closing the school that is outperforming the ones around it, over findings its own hearing record does not support. Our families deserve to know that, and the record will show it."

The record the Board voted against SR1 CPSA's results are public, independently measured, and not in dispute.

Academics: On the spring 2026 MAAP assessment released by the Mississippi Department of Education on May 21, 2026, 88.2 percent of SR1 CPSA third graders passed the state reading test. That was the highest pass rate of any charter school in Mississippi, above the state average of 75.6 percent and above the 67.1 percent of the Canton Public School District, the home district whose students SR1 CPSA serves. The school achieved it in its first year teaching third grade. SR1 CPSA kindergartners posted the highest fall score of any Mississippi charter school and the strongest fall-to-spring growth, 18.74 points against a state figure of 17.95.

Finances: The independent audit of SR1 CPSA's fiscal year 2026, completed by CliftonLarsonAllen LLP on October 7, 2026, carried an unmodified opinion for the third consecutive year, the highest opinion an auditor can give, with no instances of noncompliance. The audit shows cash of $776,520, 173 days of operating reserves, no debt, no going-concern language, and net position up more than $785,000 in a single year. The Board's revocation case rested on a 2024-2025 forecast that the school had one day of cash on hand. That forecast was wrong, and the audited figures were in the Board's hands before it voted. Based on MCSAB's own rubric, SR1 CPSA met all financial subsections. But MCSAB's Executive Director used professional judgment to fail the school's financials and start the revocation process.

Growth: Enrollment grew by 400 percent across three years. The Board's own proceedings have done the greatest damage to that growth. One hundred fifty families had enrolled for 2026-27 by June 1, 2026. After the May hearing and the coverage that followed, families withdrew, and enrollment fell to 124. Every one of those seats was a child whose family had chosen this school and was driven away by the authorizer, not by the school. Students who arrive at SR1 CPSA years behind grade level catch up within one to two years.

Federal oversight: When MCSAB raised concerns in March 2026 about federal Charter Schools Program expenditures, Mississippi First, the grant's administrator, reviewed every dollar. Its June 17, 2026, closeout memo found no evidence that any expenditure was unsupported or improperly reimbursed. Those expenditures had already been reviewed and certified twice.

What the hearing record actually shows

The Board acted on a May 14, 2026, hearing and the Hearing Officer's October 6, 2026, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Recommendation. That document did not order revocation. The Hearing Officer wrote that only the Board may take final action, and she herself raised a second path: remanding the matter so the Board could receive the school's most recent audit and performance report before deciding, because of what she called "the gravity of the Board's decision and potential impact on the students."

The same document, and the hearing transcript beneath it, establish what the Board could not prove:

- No intervention. The Hearing Officer concluded the Board did not prove it ever provided SR1 CPSA corrective assistance. The school received notices. It never received a support plan. Notice is not intervention.
- No missed bills. The Board's own financial witness testified that SR1 CPSA had never failed to pay a bill, that its finances were trending up, and that the school was "not going to fail." The Hearing Officer found no missed obligations.
- No witness on child nutrition. The nutrition allegation rests on a paper assessment from March 2026. No witness testified to it. The record names no state law the school violated. The Mississippi Department of Education approved SR1 CPSA's child nutrition program on September 8, 2026, and a school cannot violate the rules of a program it had not yet joined.
- No federal irregularity. The grant administrator's own witness testified that nothing in the school's federal expenditures was irregular.
- Audit lateness was not a basis. The Hearing Officer concluded that the timing of the prior year's audit was not a ground for revocation.

On October 20, 2026, SR1 CPSA filed a 404-page response with the Board, including the completed FY2026 audit, identifying 25 findings it considers unsupported by the record. Unfortunately, it appeared that the MCSAB Board did not read it. The Board voted within three business days without asking the school about any of it.

From the school:

"Mississippi's charter law was written so that a school would be judged on whether its children learn," said Tamu Green, Founder and President of SR1 CPSA. "Our children learn. They arrive behind and stay ahead. The Board had the audit, the test scores, and its own Hearing Officer's words in front of it, and it did not ask us one question before it voted. We will pursue every legal avenue available to keep this school open for the families of Canton and the surrounding areas."

"We told the Board the truth and facts about our finances, and the independent auditors confirmed it," said Dorlisa Hutton, Vice President. "The school the Board described, with one day of cash, does not exist. The school that exists has 173 days of reserves, no debt, and an unmodified opinion three years running. Those numbers are audited. They are not opinions."

"When my granddaughter started at SR1 CPSA she could not read. Not a word. She would hold a book upside down and pretend," said Twyla Garrett, grandmother of an SR1 CPSA student. "Today she reads to me every night, and her reading is right where it should be. Nobody on that Board has ever heard her read. I have. Every night."

A possible loss for Mississippi

This is a sad day for Mississippi. A state that ranks near the bottom of the nation in childhood outcomes has, in Canton, a public school where children of working families are outscoring the state average in reading, eating scratch-cooked meals prepared by three certified chefs with no nutrition violations on record, learning science and technology from kindergarten on, and catching up two grade levels in two years. That school is Mississippi's own answer to its oldest problem, and the state voted to move toward closing it.

Very little of that has made the news. In more than a year of coverage of this matter, the press has had almost nothing to say about the school's test scores, its audit, its culinary program, its growth, or the families who chose it. The public has read the Board's allegations. It has not been shown the record. SR1 CPSA invites every reporter who covered the allegations to visit the school, read the October 20 filing, and talk to the parents.

For families and staff

SR1 CPSA will hold classes as scheduled while its legal options are pursued. Families will be contacted directly by the school with any change, and will hear it from the school first. Staff positions, student records, and all services continue. Questions from families should go to the school's main office.

What this vote takes from Canton

SR1 CPSA is Mississippi's first college-preparatory and STEM public charter school. It opened in Canton in 2023 after its application was denied in 2018 and 2019 and approved in October 2020. It serves kindergarten through fourth grade, adds a grade each year, and feeds a healthy-meals program run by an in-house culinary team of three certified chefs with no USDA or child nutrition violations.

The vote comes with roughly $300,000 in federal Charter Schools Program funds for the school's students sitting idle under an authorizer hold since 2023, with more than $150,000 in previously authorized, grant-aligned expenses that MCSAB declined to reimburse, and with facility backers and partners ready to invest in Canton.

The children affected are the ones the Charter Schools Act was written to protect.

Next legal steps

SR1 CPSA absolutely disagrees with the decision of the Board and plans to pursue all legal avenues available to continue to serve the students and families of the school. SR1 CPSA will discuss next steps with legal counsel and supporters in the coming days.

About SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy

SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy is a public charter school in Canton, Mississippi, and the state's first college-prep and STEM public charter. It serves grades K-4, growing one grade each year, with more than 88 percent of its students socioeconomically disadvantaged. In spring 2026 its third graders earned the highest state reading pass rate of any Mississippi charter school. The school is governed by an independent Governing Board and is a separate 501(c)(3) organization.

Media contact
Tamu Green, Founder and President, SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy | 601.206.4544 | info@sr1cpsa.org

Legal inquiries
Jamie D. Travis, Esq., counsel to SR1 CPSA | 601-487-2640 | jtravis@gibbstravis.com

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Tamu Green
SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy
+ +1 601-206-4544
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