Ky. school districts ask to skip charter school training. State education board says no.

Eight Kentucky school districts on Wednesday asked to skip mandatory charter school training for their school board members, but the charter-friendly state board of education unanimously voted to deny the requests.

Officials in one of the districts, Bell County, said in its request, “Any talk of creating a charter school would not get off the ground in this environment,” according to Kentucky Board of Education documents.

Kentucky Commissioner of Education Wayne Lewis, an advocate of charter schools, and the Kentucky Department of Education staff, recommended that the school districts should not be excused from the training. Under Kentucky law, local public school boards have to approve or authorize and oversee charter schools and must receive training to do that job.

Lewis told the Herald-Leader that he made the recommendation because under current law, every local school in the state is required to serve as an “authorizer” of charter schools and any one of them can receive an application at any time.

Opposition to charter schools, which are viewed by critics as siphoning funds from traditional public schools, is one of the reasons that teachers have protested at the state Capitol and was a sticking point between educators and Gov. Matt Bevin, who pushed for the 2017 legislation that allowed charter schools in Kentucky. Proponents say charter schools give families another choice when traditional public schools don’t meet the needs of their child.

Despite the 2017 approval, no charter schools have opened in Kentucky because lawmakers have not passed legislation to create a funding mechanism for charters. Under Gov.-elect Andy Beshear, who has pledged his support to public educators, passage of such a law in 2020 is not expected. Beshear has vowed to replace all current state school board members, many of whom also say they are charter school advocates, and Beshear wants new state school board members to replace Lewis.

The first and only charter school application in Kentucky was filed in October to the Newport Independent school board, but that proposed charter school leader has said even if given approval, her group would not open without a funding mechanism.

Associate Education Commissioner Kelly Foster said at Wednesday’s Kentucky Board of Education meeting that eight districts, Bell, Carroll, Graves, Henry, Knott, Owsley, Pulaski and Trimble made the requests to avoid charter school training for local school board members.

Bell County’s request said no group had voiced interest in opening a charter school, according to state education documents. Carroll County district officials said in the documents its unlikely that the district “would branch out into charter schools.” Graves, Carroll, Henry, Owsley, Pulaski, and Trimble county school officials said the training was burdensome or presented a hardship.

Knott County school officials said in the documents that the district desires to “focus more...attention on needs and requirements of all our students right now and not be distracted by additional training on something that may never happen in Knott County.”

State school board member Alesa Johnson said she had heard from local school board members who were frustrated about getting charter school training because they did not anticipate getting an application from people who want to open a charter school.

In explaining the recommendation to deny the districts’ requests, education department staff said in state documents that at least 60 percent of the school board members in the state, including 32 of the 40 school board members in the eight districts, had by October 2019 completed the training to review a charter school application. Those who did not have the training were only a few hours away of having it by Dec. 31 or were eligible for time extensions, the department documents said.

State school board member Gary Houchens said at Wednesday’s board meeting that the department of education had worked with the Kentucky School Boards Association to integrate with charter school training, the training that local board members receive on other topics, so they don’t have to get an extra 12 hours of charter school training.

If the school board members don’t receive the training and end up receiving a charter school application, said Houchens, within 60 days they have to receive training and decide on whether to accept the application, which would put both the applicant and local school board members into a difficult situation.

Houchens and Lewis said those school boards who don’t want to go through charter school authorizer training might be able to get help from the General Assembly by asking for a new law that would relieve them of having to approve charter school applications.

In a statement late Thursday, KSBA Executive Director Kerri Schelling said that at best, the training was overly burdensome.

“At worst, they are severely hindering the ability for Kentucky’s elected public school boards to pursue relevant training — without expending additional time and resources — that could enhance districts’ ability to prepare every Kentucky student to succeed,” Schelling said.

She said whether through amendments to the regulation, or by legislative action, this must change if Kentucky is to strike a more reasonable balance in the interest of successful districts.

This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 5:40 PM.