Will charter schools open in KY? Future still uncertain after Beshear says he’ll veto bill

The future of a bill aimed at opening charter schools in Kentucky is unclear after Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that he opposes the measure and lawmakers removed it from a committee agenda.

House Bill 9 was expected to be heard in the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee Thursday. Prior to that meeting, Beshear said at a news conference, “I oppose charter schools. I’ll veto any charter school bill. I believe that the bill is unconstitutional in its current form.”

HB 9 was subsequently removed from the committee agenda where it would have received its first hearing Thursday.

It was unknown whether the measure will be heard this session of the General Assembly or perhaps added to another bill next week. Sponsor State Rep. Chad McCoy, R-Bardstown, and House leaders did not immediately comment Friday.

State Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, said in a tweet Thursday night, “HB9, the charter school bill, was pulled from the committee agenda. It’s likely we stopped it — for this session.”

Schools run by corporations are not public schools, Beshear said at the news conference. Beshear said the innovations in charter schools can be accomplished at public schools, such as programs in Louisville and Lexington.

“We can’t starve public schools of the dollars that they need and then tell them they are not doing a good enough job and and then give their dollars to corporations,” said Beshear.

How would charter schools work in Kentucky?

Charter schools are public schools that have contracts with authorizers in which they detail how schools will be organized and managed, what students will achieve and how success will be measured. In exchange, the schools have freedom from laws and regulations to which most conventional public schools must adhere.

Charter schools were approved in Kentucky in 2017 against opposition but none have opened, in part because the General Assembly didn’t provide a permanent funding mechanism.

A March 9 fiscal note from the General Assembly staff says HB 9 amends various sections of public charter school laws, to expand the list of charter school authorizers, amend the application requirements and establish an appeal process for charter school applicants.

HB 9 requires students attending charter schools to be included in the State school funding average daily attendance count and establishes the mechanism for calculating and transferring the charter school’s share of a district’s state education funds. The provisions in HB 9 require charter schools also be eligible to receive local and federal funds.

The Kentucky Public Charter School Commission is established to consider applications, authorize charter schools and review appeals under the bill.

The fiscal note did not address potential cost increases to local school districts.

Students attending charter schools will be included in the average daily attendance data for the purposes of receiving state school funds and transportation funds.

The measure establishes the Kentucky Public Charter School Commission and requires the commission to appoint an executive director. But the cost to establish and operate the Kentucky Public Charter School Commission is indeterminable, the fiscal note said..

The Kentucky Board of Education would become an authorizer of charter schools and be responsible for appeals.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Chad McCoy, R-Bardstown, has other opposition.

Kentucky School Boards Association officials said in a March 10 statement that they opposed the bill.

“When charter schools were first allowed in 2017, KSBA was not against the concept, especially if a local school board wanted to authorize one,” the statement said. “However, we have always been against a state mandate to transfer local taxes collected by a locally elected board to a charter school, or to anything else. Local taxes are for the operations of the schools of the district. HB 9 would mean that a charter school, not authorized by the board or overseen by the board, would get local tax money.”

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy staff said in a recent statement that the bill “would create a duplicative, wasteful and unaccountable system for authorizing and funding charter schools.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 5:05 PM.