An ethics complaint filed as a controversial bill funding a charter school pilot program moved through the legislature in 2022 against Rep. Kim Banta (R-Fort Wright) has been dismissed.
Banta served on the House education committee where the bill initially passed, and her vote proved crucial to the bill moving through the committee, then the House.
Banta’s husband, Tom, is the chief real estate officer for Ovation developer Corporex. He is also a board member for the Butler Foundation, a nonprofit built by Corporex Chairman Bill Butler that lobbied the legislature for the pilot charter bill, called House Bill 9.
The complaint alleged that Tom Banta’s connection to Butler, and therefore the Butler Foundation, influenced Kim Banta’s vote on the House floor. The teacher’s union that brought the complaint argued 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.”
Corporex has stated publicly that the company has no plans to include a charter school on the Ovation site.
House Bill 9 created a funding mechanism for another charter school bill passed in 2017, creating a pathway for two charter school pilot programs: One in Jefferson County and one in Northern Kentucky.
The bipartisan Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission voted unanimously at its Oct. 10 meeting to dismiss the complaint “due to lack of finding any violation of ethics regulations.”
Banta said in an Oct. 12 press release that she is pleased the commission confirmed her actions were proper relating to the passage of the legislation.
“It is unfortunate that the teacher’s union, who is opposed to charter schools, chose to use an unsubstantiated ethics complaint against me as a political stunt to try to stop or delay the Senate from voting on the companion bill in the Senate,” Kim Banta said in the statement.
Mark Payne contributed to this report
