NASHVILLE (AP) — The Metro Nashville Board of Education has — for a third time — denied the application for a charter school.

The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/OG50Tr) reported the 5-4 vote came Monday night. That was after state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman had declared the board was violating state law in defying an order to approve the application by Great Hearts Academies.

School board members have expressed concern that a charter school on the city's west side would cater mostly to affluent, white families.

In a statement, Mayor Karl Dean said the board should "follow the law."