STORY

Case Status: The case was filed in Washington County Chancery Court on October 27, 2026.

Executive Summary 

School choice programs like the Education Freedom Scholarship Program have given parents an unprecedented opportunity to choose schools tailored to their children’s needs. But state rules keep getting in the way. Tennessee dictates when, where, and how private schools must teach, which leaves the people who start schools very little room to try anything new. 

Our client Sarah Fagerburg is the founder and owner of Acton Academy Johnson City. Her experience raising her nine children drove her to innovate. She tried everything from traditional public school to homeschool but never felt that she could find the perfect fit. Three years ago, Sarah heard about Acton Academy, a network of schools that emphasizes learner-driven education, and applied to start her own school in Johnson City. She opened her school two years ago with 13 students, including her four youngest children, in her three-car garage. Sarah now runs her school in a church and serves over 40 students—with many more eager to enroll. 

Although Sarah’s school is successful, many regulatory barriers prevent Sarah from unlocking its full potential. First, Tennessee requires private schools to follow the same calendar as public schools: 180 days with a minimum of 6.5 hours of instructional time per day. Second, the state prohibits Sarah from teaching her seven-year-old students in the same room as her three-year-old students. Third, the State Fire Marshal’s Office effectively limits the number of students Sarah can have at her school. If Sarah wanted to serve a 50th student, she must pay thousands of dollars for an architect to draw up construction plans for the church she uses. Fourth, the Fire Marshal will not let Sarah use the church’s second and third floors unless she installs new doors and exits in a building she does not own. 

Sarah is going to court to clear these barriers away, so that she can offer an even better education to the students she serves. 

The Problem

The Instructional Time Requirement: Tennessee law requires public schools to provide 180 days of classroom instruction with at least 6.5 hours of instructional time per day. No Tennessee statute puts that requirement on nonreligious private schools like Sarah’s. The State Board of Education wrote it into its own rules anyway. This prevents Sarah from implementing her education model, which teaches children self-management and emphasizes self-paced mastery of reading, writing, and math. 

The Age Separation Mandate: Tennessee does not permit three- and four-year-olds to share a classroom with seven-year-olds. The same children sat in the same room last year, and it was perfectly legal. Back then, Tennessee counted Sarah’s school as an extension of homeschooling. This year, she is registered as a private school, and the arrangement is suddenly forbidden. Nothing changed but the agency overseeing Sarah’s education. The age separation mandate doesn’t make children safer. It undermines Sarah’s education model. Many people learn best by teaching others, and Sarah wants her seven-year-olds to enhance their own learning by teaching concepts to younger children. 

The Architect Mandate: The State Fire Marshal’s Office will not let a school enroll a fiftieth child until it hires a licensed architect to draw up construction plans and submit them to the state. Meeting that requirement would cost Sarah thousands, and possibly tens of thousands, of dollars. The church itself doesn’t have to do this. The state treats the rooms as safe for children on Sunday but unsafe for children on Monday. 

The Stairwell Requirement: Sarah educates 43 students in the basement of a three-floor church building. She would like to use the upper floors, but the Fire Marshal has told her she cannot until she installs new doors and exits in a building she rents and does not own.  

Legal Issues  

We argue that these rules break two promises in the Tennessee Constitution: that Tennesseans may earn an honest living, and that the government will not treat one person worse than another without a good reason. None of these rules makes a child any safer. After all, churches and homeschools can teach the same children without following the same rules. Rather, the provisions force private schools to look like public schools and undermine Sarah’s innovative education model. The rules also violate the right parents have under the U.S. Constitution to direct their children’s education. That right means little if the only real choice is between a public school and a private school the state has required to look just like one. 

We also argue that the instructional time requirement was never the Board’s to write. Under the Tennessee Constitution, laws are made by elected legislators, not by the agencies that enforce them. Tennessee law imposes an instructional time requirement for public and church-related schools. The Board extended that requirement to nonreligious private schools on its own, without the legislature ever voting for it. And if the legislature really did hand the Board that much power, it gave away too much. Lawmakers cannot write an agency a blank check to make whatever rules it likes. They must make important decisions themselves.  

Case Logistics 

Beacon represents Sarah Fagerburg and Acton Academy Johnson City in a lawsuit filed in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville, where challenges to state agency rules are heard. The defendants are officials of the Tennessee State Board of Education and the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office. 

The Legal Team 

Wen Fa is the Vice President of Legal Affairs at the Beacon Center. 

Travis Woods is an attorney at the Beacon Center. 

Documents

Complaint