The Memphis Academy of Health Services, among the city and state of Tennessee’s first charter schools to open, will officially close at the end of the school year.

The newly formed Tennessee Public Charter School Commission voted unanimously at its Friday meeting to reject MAHS’ appeal, affirming the Memphis-Shelby County school board’s decision to revoke its charter in January after years of financial malfeasance, leading to the indictment of three former school leaders charged with stealing nearly $400,000 from the school.

The vote aligned with the recommendations of Tess Stovall, executive director of the commission, who wrote that Memphis-Shelby County Schools was within its rights to shut the charter down, given “such egregious acts of financial mismanagement and violations of the charter agreement.”

Stovall said the decision to close a school is not one that should be made lightly, but that a school that violates state law and “betrays the public trust” cannot remain open.

“While I believe that the new governing board is well-intentioned in its desire to provide a quality education to its students, I cannot find that the decision of the local board of education is contrary to (state law) based on a totality of evidence,” she wrote.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Samantha West is a reporter for Chalkbeat Tennessee, where she covers K-12 education in Memphis. Connect with Samantha at swest@chalkbeat.org.