NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman says the Metro Nashville school board's decision to delay a vote on a charter school application is a violation of state law.

On Tuesday night, the school board discussed the effort by Great Hearts Academies to open a school on the city's affluent west side. The Tennessean (http://bit.ly/Pkp6E ) reported that after two hours, the board decided to postpone a vote.

The board on a previous occasion had denied the application but was ordered by the State Board of Education to reconsider.

On Wednesday, Huffman issued the state's response to the board's decision to postpone the vote.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has said local government is best suited to meet the needs of the people it represents. But he told reporters after a higher education meeting Tuesday afternoon that he sees school issues in a different light.

"You have a unique situation here because you have both state and local money funding schools," he said. "And because of that, you might have a school board that just looks at it from their point of view. And obviously as a state we have a bigger role."