Kenton County Possible Destination for Charter School Pilot
House Bill 9, the charter school bill that would put two pilot charter schools in Kentucky cleared the Senate Education Committee on Monday by an 8-3 vote. Filed by Rep. Chad McCoy (R-Bardstown), the bill seeks to create a pathway to fund charter schools from state and local money.
The bill has created a firestorm of theories as to where a school would be located in Northern Kentucky and left many wondering, why Northern Kentucky in the first place?
History of Charter Schools In Northern Kentucky
When a charter school bill passed in 2017, it opened the door for charter schools statewide. The River Cities Academy (RCA) was the first to try to establish one in Northern Kentucky back in 2016. Led by founder Lynn Schaber, along with a team of Ian Maloney, Evelyn Pence, Jillian Stashak, Sarah Strauss, Sabrina Tinkler, and Jeff Weghorst, they sought to open a school that “was born out of a grassroots effort led by local parents who saw a need for a neighborhood school. One that reflects the diverse population of our area and provides a high-quality education for families dedicated to living in the urban core of Northern Kentucky,” according to their website.
But the school never came to fruition after Newport Independent Schools, which served as authorizers under the 2017 law, didn’t accept the application from RCA. When RCA appealed to the Kentucky Board of Education, that body agreed with Newport’s decision. The law didn’t provide specific plans for the charter to be funded in the long term, leaving RCA without a pathway to funding.
In 2019, the Ignite Institute opened in Erlanger. The school is a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEM) focused. Housed in a former Toyota office building donated by the company after it moved to Texas, the school takes in students from all over Northern Kentucky. Currently, the school is operated by the Boone County Government.
“Our focus is to provide education and experience in career fields that are in high demand in our community,” their mission reads. “We are creating a reality where industry and education work together to ensure that scholars have the skills and creativity to succeed in our fast-paced, technology-driven society.”
When Randy Poe, the Northern Kentucky Education Council executive director, was the Boone County Schools superintendent, he was approached about Ignite becoming a charter school.
“Ignite is a great example of a school that comes together on the Kenton County and Boone County line and operates through an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreement,” Poe said. “We didn’t have to do a charter application. We did an MOU agreement, and we’ve got students from Walton (Walton-Verona Independent), students from Boone County, students from Kenton County, and students from Ludlow (Independent).”
Poe highlights that the boards of education involved are in a cooperative agreement instead of a forced agreement.
“I think that’s the difference here is we’re trying, we’re saying there’s choice,” Poe said, elaborating that under House Bill 9, the state is trying to force that choice. “I think that’s where the issue is,” Poe said. “Nobody wants the state of Kentucky, the legislature, to force a local decision and say, ‘I know better than you, so I’m going to force you to do something.'”
Potential Sites for Charter Schools in Northern Kentucky
In online rumors last week, the Newport Ovation Project was listed as a potential site for a charter school. Critics noted that Corporex founder Bill Butler, whose company is developing the Newport project, has been lobbying the state for educational purposes.
But, the Ovation site was never going to get a charter school, with Industrial Revenue Bonds for the project showing that when the Newport Independent School District approved them, the school board added a stipulation that a school can’t be built on that site.
“The city shall not permit a private or charter school to be constructed or operate upon the Ovation site,” the addendum reads.
Kenton County could also be a possible destination for a new charter school.
On the House floor last week, Rep. McCoy noted that the bill wouldn’t change much about that initial law from 2017 but would allow smaller school districts with under 7,500 students to vote on whether or not they want a charter school. For schools above that number, that rule doesn’t apply, leaving school boards at the mercy of the state on whether or not a school district would be put into a county.
On page 17, and in Section 3 of the bill, it reads:
“If the application is for a public charter school located in a district with total student enrollment of seven thousand five hundred (7,500) or less, then the application shall include a memorandum of understanding with the district of location endorsing the application. However, if the application is for an urban academy located within a county where the total enrollment of all independent school districts is greater than seven thousand five hundred (7,500), then this subparagraph shall not apply.”
The only county in Northern Kentucky that this applies to is Kenton County. The total enrollment of the county’s four independent districts is roughly 9,100 (Covington Independent has approximately 4,100; Beechwood Independent has approximately 1,500; Erlanger-Elsmere Independent has approximately 2,600; and Ludlow Independent has approximately 855).
Campbell County has five independent districts that have a combined total enrollment of around 6,600 (Fort Thomas Independent has approximately 3,200; Newport Independent has approximately 1,500; Dayton Independent has approximately 1,000; Bellevue Independent has approximately 660; and Southgate Independent has approximately 200).
“I think if you’re combining the charter with, you know, that language when the charter opens up, I’m not sure that you could be at Campbell County,” Poe said, noting that any place the charter school lands, it will be a regional charter, meaning that students from Campbell could go to the charter in Kenton if that’s where the school ends up.
“I don’t think it has any difference, whether it’s located in any urban core, whether it was located in Covington or located in Newport,” Poe said. “I think that the effects of the charter, that regional charter approach, will have the same effects in the Covington and Newport areas.”
Northern Kentucky Legislators’ and Lobbyists’ Influence on House Bill 9
On Monday, the KY 120 United-AFT, a teachers’ advocacy group, filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Kim Banta (R-Ft. Mitchell). In a press conference, they detailed their complaint, but the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission could not confirm the filing of it.
When the bill was voted in the House Education Committee and on the House floor, it narrowly passed 51-46. One of those crucial votes was Banta.
In the complaint, they called on Sen. Max Wise (R-Campbellsville), the chair of the Senate Education Committee, to pull HB9 from the agenda until investigations against Banta could be completed. They claim that Banta is violating section 57 of the Kentucky Constitution, which prohibits legislators from voting on matters where they have a personal or private interest.
“The cloud of potential corruption surrounding the charter school funding bill needs to be lifted before any further action is taken on the measure,” said Stacy Crosslin, AFT member. “We are asking Chairman Wise to remove HB9 from the committee agenda today so that the Legislative Ethics Commission can conduct a complete investigation and determine if Rep. Banta has violated Section 57 of the Kentucky Constitution.”
According to the group, the issue comes from Banta’s husband, Tom, who is the chief real estate officer for Corporex, the company managing the Ovation project in Newport. They allege this potentially influenced Banta’s vote on the House floor, arguing that Corporex is “the same firm that is developing a project in Northern Kentucky that has plans to include a charter school in this development,” even though the aforementioned revenue bonds say a charter school will not be at the development site. “It gives the appearance that Rep. Banta stands to gain financially from the passage of HB9,” the statement further reads.
In an interview with LINK nky, Banta said that the only factors influencing her vote are kids and parents.
“Let me tell you what influences my vote,” Banta said. “What influences my vote are kids and parents … there’s no footprint for a school over there. Yes, my husband’s in charge, but if you want to call him, he will tell you I don’t do a damn thing for anybody that I don’t think is right. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care how much money you have.”
Butler, the chairman and founder of Corporex, has expressed interest in bringing a charter school to Northern Kentucky.
“The mission is to provide an alternative pre-K through level eight school with an eye to two goals first, to keep young professional families from moving out of Covington and Newport when their children reach school age, and second to provide an opportunity for less hopeful children of the urban sector who can achieve at a higher level than the broader public school system simply cannot provide,” Butler said in a release. “I have promised to contribute a large sum of money for such a program, provided that it is a state-of-the-art facility that will also be additive to the infrastructure landscape in our urban sector.”
Under the Butler Foundation, Butler has spent $5,450 to lobby in the “educational” industry so far in 2022, according to records obtained by LINK nky from the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission. Though there aren’t any specific bills mentioned in the lobbying reports, they state he paid four lobbyists: Julia Crigler, Patrick Jennings, Katherine Halle, and Karen Thomas-Lentz.
NKY Educators Not Included in Conversations about the School
Last week on the House floor, Northern Kentucky Rep. Rachel Roberts (D-Newport) argued against HB9. In her line of questions to Rep. McCoy, she questioned if NKU had been notified. McCoy responded that NKU requested the option to be permissive, so NKU can opt out if they choose. But, up until that point, NKU had not been notified.
“NKU was not consulted about being included as a potential charter school authorizer prior to our inclusion in HB9,” a statement from NKU said. “Furthermore, we have not had the opportunity to fully understand what is in the bill. However, the language in the legislation does provide us the ability to study the implications before making any decisions. Should HB9 become law, we will have conversations with the multiple stakeholders in our community about what impact charter schools would have on K-12 education in northern Kentucky.”
In fact, no educators in Northern Kentucky have been notified. Banta also said that the state worked on charter schools for around seven years, even before she became a legislator. But, in those seven years, Poe said he doesn’t recall anybody being approached from the state. Poe was the superintendent at Boone County Schools during that period, and he was never approached.
“I do not know anybody on those boards within Kenton County, in a public forum, that’s been approached on that particular topic,” Poe said.
The General Assembly regular session ends on Wednesday ahead of the veto period when Governor Beshear can sign or reject legislation. Lawmakers could then override any veto.
House Bill 9 now heads to the full Senate floor for a vote. If passed, it will head back to the House for concurrence, and Banta said she would vote in favor of the concurrence unless the bill receives any type of Senate amendment that would hurt students.
“If the Senate decides to put on there … something crazy that I feel like would harm public schools, whether it’s the public charter or whether it’s the public school system already in existence, then I’m not going to do it,” Banta said.
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