BATON ROUGE (AP) — After two months of review, the East Baton School Board has voted down a proposal to create a second charter school in Baton Rouge modeled after Inspire Charter Academy, which opened its doors in August 2010.

An objection to allowing Michigan-based National Heritage Academies to form a second school in Baton Rouge is that after its first year in operation, Inspire earned an F grade on the state’s new letter-grade system, barely missing a D by one point.

“I’m very, very torn,” said Board President Barbara Freiberg.

“I feel confident the scores will grow,” she added.

The Advocate reports board member Craig Freeman told National Heritage representatives Thursday he likes a lot of what Inspire is doing, but said starting a second school — proposed name is Empower Charter Academy — is premature and would “dilute your efforts” at Inspire.

Board member Craig Freeman told National Heritage representatives he likes a lot of what Inspire is doing, but said starting a second school — proposed name is Empower Charter Academy — is premature and would “dilute your efforts” at Inspire.

Superintendent John Dilworth, however, was unequivocal. “The recommendation of staff and I is to deny this application.”

The motion to deny the application to create Empower Charter Academy passed 8-2. Only board members Connie Bernard and David Tatman voted no. Freiberg abstained.

Board member Evelyn Waugh Jackson expressed hope that the board and National Heritage might still find a compromise.

“I believe with a little more collaboration and more time, I think we can come up with a win-win for everyone involved,” she said.

“Those of you who know me know I do not ever give up,” Sister Judith Brun, president of Inspire’s board, replied.

The plan was to open Empower Charter Academy in fall 2012, but it will now likely have to wait until fall 2013 at earliest. That’s the earliest it could form a charter school through the state Department of Education.

Brun said she hopes to eventually open three similar elementary schools, capped by a high school.

Board member Jill Dyason urged Brun to consider instead starting a middle school, an area where the school system has a shortage of space. Brun, however, noted that the model National Heritage Academies is to start in the elementary grades and grow up to eighth grade — one grade at a time.

“I’m brave and I’m tough, but I wouldn’t start a middle school,” Brun said. “I’ve been around too long. But I’ll grow you one and then I’ll bring you a high school.

Inspire has about 500 students and is growing to a maximum capacity of more than 700 students. Empower Charter, which is looking to locate in the Mall City area, would follow a similar pattern, starting with a target enrollment of 480 students in grades kindergarten to five, and adding one grade at a time until it reaches eighth grade.

Charter schools, however, have been partially blamed for the budget shortfalls the school system has faced in the past three years.

East Baton Rouge Parish school administrators are balking at creating more charter schools, saying the school system can’t afford them without making more cuts elsewhere to pay for them.

While saying they have had good relations with Inspire, administrators say they question how innovative that school has been and also note that it earned an F grade from the state last month.

Brun pointed out that while Inspire earned an F, it grew in its first year.

She said, according to the state Department of Education, Inspire students would have earned a school performance score of about 58, a number that doesn’t include school attendance, which only affects 10 percent of a school performance score. After a year in operation it improved to 64, but fell short of 65, the minimum to earn a D.

Brun said internal testing also showed good, but not great, growth that first year, and Brun said she wasn’t satisfied.

“If there was a mechanism to recognize your growth, you would not have received the failing grade you received,” said board member Tarvald Smith.