House Bill 9 on charter schools has caused waves in the public-school communities across the commonwealth, specifically here in Northern Kentucky — an area that has eyes on it as a possible location for a charter school.
One landing spot that has been in question throughout the process is a space next to Ovation in Newport. With a possible charter school going in Northern Kentucky and taking in students that would otherwise most likely be attending public school, how would that affect more underperforming school districts in the region?
The river city schools are more commonly known as the lower-rated districts in the area. According to greatschools.org, Bellevue High School’s score is four out of 10. Dayton and Newport High Schools’ score is three out of 10, and Holmes High School in Covington is one out of 10. All of which are considered by the site to be below average.
“We’re not nearly where we need to be as far as academics go,” Superintendent for Newport Schools Tony Watts said. “So, we have kind of a bad reputation as far as that goes. So, we’re trying to put some systems in place here to make sure that everybody’s doing what they need to do. Making sure we’re giving the best education and the best instruction for our students and just changing expectations. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
One of the big pushes for supporters of HB 9 among legislators is wanting more options for parents and students regarding education. Watts said that a charter school is not going to benefit all students.
What makes a charter school different from a public school?
Charter schools are tuition-free schools of choice that are publicly funded but independently run. They have the freedom to design classrooms that meet their students’ needs but are held accountable by an authorizer to make sure the school is meeting expectations.
“So, all kids have an opportunity to attend the charter schools, but if a charter school opens, we’re looking at, I’m just throwing this number out now, probably the most you’re talking 200 to 300 kids,” Watts said. “So, if you’re going to say we’re going to open a charter school and we’re going to get 300 kids, so those 300 kids can come from anywhere. So, is that truly benefiting all students?”
Another point Watts mentioned was the selective process that will most likely choose the best-performing students, leaving out disadvantaged kids.
As far as working toward improvements for the school district, Watts said they are working on rebranding and a four-year strategic plan to share with the public upon completion.
“It’s important to have a really broad understanding about how we measure success in schools,” said Kentucky Board of Education Chair Lu Young. “And oftentimes, we just narrow our perspective about school success down to a set of state assessment scores and accountability scores, when really there’s a very broad and rich set of metrics that we can use to really talk about how successful schools are. So, for me, I think part of the problem is that we don’t report all those measures of success in schools and kids in schools experience. So really thinking more broadly about what learning experiences students have, what access and opportunity they have, how we, over time, open up access and opportunity for students because I really do think that gets at a root cause do students have access and opportunity to rich leak learning experiences in all of our schools in Kentucky.”
Young is someone who has chosen to put their faith in public-school programs.
“I loved hearing the testimonies this week where we were reminded that school districts have a lot of opportunities to change programming to better meet student needs, and I have every confidence that any district that you look at, high ratings by some outside rater or not, that they’re working diligently to design better learning experiences for struggling students,” Young said. “I have total faith in school district leaders and school leaders to provide the services that their students need. I think they’re working on that all the time. It doesn’t mean it’s easy, and it certainly doesn’t mean it’s quick. But they have broad latitude for what they can do to better meet the needs of their students. And I see that happening in lots of places across Kentucky.”
As far as HB 9 affecting lower-rated schools in the area, Watts said they could only control what’s on their plate, and if a charter school does come to the site, they will continue to focus on their strategic plan.
“All we can do is control what we can control, and we’re working on us,” Watts said. “So, the charter school is not going to change what we do because we still want to make sure that we’re providing the best for our kids. So, the charter school will do what they do, and we’re still going to work on our strategic plan and try to make sure that we’re better each year. My motto is that we got to have continuous improvement. We got to be better today than we were yesterday. And we got to be better this year today than we were last year. So as long as we’re improving, you know, showing gains, then that’s all we can control.”
Those opposed to HB 9 argue that it will take away funding from public schools. Something Watts said could help improve ratings and enrollment issues is funding for necessary resources. Watts said all kids are not the same, and some need special education and more resources than other kids. Something he believes would prove beneficial is an earlier start for kids with programs like all-day kindergarten.
“I think it’s safe for me to say across the board, more disadvantaged districts and communities, those kids come to school farther behind than the advantaged districts,” Watts said. “If we could provide, as early as we can, some education for those kids, even preschool, I think that would kind of level the playing field, and those kids would get off to a better start, and we wouldn’t be trying to play catch up all the time.”
Along with an issue with how HB 9 would redirect funding from public schools, the question of quality control arose.
“I do think the two main concerns are the issue related to the potential loss of revenue to charter management companies and then the other one; I think really is quality control… even in a pilot model like House Bill 9, we think it’s really important that we get the quality issues right on the front end,” Young said. “Let’s take the time we need over the course of the next year to work together to bring in the Department of Education, the State Board of Education, the Teachers Association, the Superintendent’s Association, the Administrators Association, School Boards Association, all of the folks that have a stake in this policy, bring us together, utilize that expert knowledge.”
If parents are interested in more options for education other than public schools and private schools, what other options are there in the state? Currently, Kentucky does not have any charter schools, and the answer to different possibilities is vague.
Young said she would encourage parents to partner with their local school districts.
“In this conversation about what success looks like in Kentucky’s public schools, the more we engage, genuinely engaged families and communities in these conversations, the more common ground I think we find. I think everyone is better for the experience,” Young said. “So, I would encourage those families in rural areas, in urban areas and in suburban areas to get engaged at the school level to help build the kinds of schools that everyone would want to choose.”
On the other hand, Watts agreed that public schools are really the only option for kids right now aside from private schools, but charter schools are not the answer for other options. As far as how HB 9 would affect enrollment rates at Newport Schools, Watts said he doesn’t think they will lose many students because people already can send their children to private schools.
“Right now, it is the public schools; that’s all we have right now,” Watts said. “That’s why I guess the legislature has been trying to push the charter schools. For some reason, they believe charter schools are the answer.”
Though Watts isn’t fearful of losing students, the same cannot be said for teachers. Schools are already facing a teacher shortage, and adding another type of school to the area would just add to that issue, Watts said. He said HB 9 stated that a teacher could leave a public school and work for a charter school for two years. That is a concern if the charter school would take from an already limited pot of public-school teachers that Watts contributed to “an attack on public education.”
HB 9 states, “A teacher employed by a local board of education under a continuing service contract and offered employment with a public charter school shall be granted a two-year leave of absence to teach in a public charter school.”
“We don’t pay as well as other industries, and then you got to come and deal with a lot of headaches,” Watts said. “So, people said no, I’m not going to do that. So now, you know there’s going to be a shortage of teachers, and now with the more charter schools you open, now what do we do?”
