NASHVILLE (AP) – A plan that would let state officials overrule local school board decisions about charter schools in the state's two largest cities is being sharply criticized.

The Tennessean reported members of the Metro Nashville Council, the board of the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and opposing state legislators gathered Monday at Legislative Plaza in Nashville, where school board chairwoman Cheryl Mayes derided the bill as "horrid."

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, a Democrat elected in a non-partisan mayoral race, supports the bill as does House Speaker Beth Harwell, a Nashville Republican.

Afterward, state Rep. Glen Casada (CASS'-uh-duh) – a Franklin Republican – said the bill would give parents in Nashville and Memphis more choices in their children's schooling.

Information from: The Tennessean, www.tennessean.com

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