By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
A bill that would establish funding for charter schools and establish two pilot projects, one in Jefferson County and the other in Northern Kentucky, received final passage in the General Assembly late Tuesday.
House Bill 9, sponsored by Rep. Chad McCoy, R-Bardstown, which barely cleared the House 51-46 last week, was approved on a 22-14 vote in the state Senate.
State law currently allows local school boards to serve as authorizers for charter schools, but if they deny it, applicants can appeal to the Kentucky Department of Education, and that continues. The only change for authorization is that the applicant can ask the KDE for technical assistance on the application if it is denied. Local boards in districts with less than 7,500 students have absolute veto power, if they don’t sign a memorandum of understanding with an applicant.
The bill would also require that the SEEK money follow a student if they go to a charter school.
Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, who presented the bill to his colleagues on the Senate floor, told them, “This gives an opportunity for us to excel in those places where the students deserve to be enrolled in robust programs of excellence.”
Givens said there was a problem with the first charter schools bill passed in 2017 because “It placed the funding mechanism into a two-year budget measure. So here we stand today, five years later, to codify that funding model largely in line with what was voted in in 2017.”
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, pointed out Democratic President Barack Obama and his Education Secretary had considered the issue. “What were their thoughts on charter schools? They were for them. Why? Because they worked. That’s why I’ll vote ‘aye.’”
Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington, in speaking against the bill, told his colleagues, “Follow the money, because what you’re going to see with this bill is that your public dollars is being used for private benefit.”
The bill now heads to Gov. Andy Beshear, who has said he would veto any charter school legislation that would come to his desk.
However, the General Assembly only needs a simple majority of both chambers to override the veto.
After the vote, Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass issued a statement warning, “While the funding solution put forth in this year’s bill attempts to remedy this issue, it also creates new constitutional questions relating to the forced transfer of local school funds that ultimately will have to be resolved by the courts.”
He added, “I hope that the General Assembly takes time over the interim to work with education stakeholders on a policy framework that results in better school options for Kentucky’s students.”