Following an appearance on a March 19 education-policy discussion panel in Nashville with Gov. Bill Haslam and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander told reporters he’s “always been astonished” public school teachers haven’t been more accepting of charter schools, or even “leading the charge” to expand their prevalence. Alexander said that “what a charter school is designed to do” is free educators from stifling regulations and give them “the freedom to operate (a) school differently.”