NATCHEZ — The State Charter School Authorizer Board unanimously voted Monday to deny the application of a group seeking to open a charter school in Natchez.

The Phoenix Project Community Development Foundation was one of three groups applying to open charter schools in the state. A group seeking to open a charter school in Jackson was the only one to receive approval by the board Monday.

State board members reasons for the denial of the Natchez group’s applications included a lack of a firm commitment by Copiah-Lincoln Community College and Alcorn State University, which the Phoenix Project said would assist in providing college credits to its students.

The Natchez campuses of those schools, the group’s application stated, would also have housed the new school.

Board members also said the capacity of the Phoenix group to carry out the plan for the school was unknown because it was unclear who would be managing the school, the Phoenix group or Charter Pros, a consulting group hired by the Phoenix group.

The Charter Pros group manages the operation of a charter school in Illinois, but state board members pointed out that they have not operated a school with the early college model the Phoenix group wanted to create.

State board members also said several operational errors existed in the Phoenix group’s budget proposal.

Phoenix Project Community Development Foundation Inc. was created in part by Natchez native Iretha Beyah, who has advocated for charter schools in the area before, including in Fayette, Waterproof and Ferriday.

Beyah said Monday she was disappointed in the ruling, but said Phoenix group members would continue doing everything they could to open a charter school in Natchez.

“We will definitely go back to the table to see what we can do differently the next time,” Beyah said. “We really tried to look at what was needed in this community, and that was a different approach to education.”

Erika Berry, executive director of the Mississippi Charter Schools Association, said the Phoenix group, and any others wanting to open charter schools in Mississippi, will have the opportunity to apply again beginning July 15.

Applications would be reviewed with an approval from the board slated for December. The groups who receive approval during the second round could open a charter school as soon as 2015.

Berry expressed her condolences to the Phoenix group, but said the Jackson group’s approval would be an important step for education in Mississippi.

“That’s going to serve as an example of what a charter school in Mississippi can look like and should look like,” Berry said. “No longer is it about just putting down some ideas on paper.

“These groups need to bring forward an actual plan that has all the dots connected and present it in a way that’s doable, because we want these schools to start successful and stay successful.”

Charter schools are publicly funded, independently operated public schools that do not charge tuition or fees, are open to all students who wish to attend and cannot discriminate when making enrollment decisions.

In 2013, the Mississippi Legislature approved measures allowing for the schools to operate in the state in poor performing districts.

The Phoenix Project wanted to open the Phoenix Early College Charter School, serving grades 9 through 12.

The group was seeking to open an early college high school model, which is similar to a high school focused on college preparation, that would have open enrollment for students in ninth through 12th grades, with a plan of opening to 75, ninth-grade students in 2015.