The House passed House Bill 9, the charter school bill that is drawing fervent opposition. The bill would fund charter schools, potentially taking away money from public schools. HB9 passed the committee in the morning and was on the House floor within hours.
“Charter schools are not new to the United States. They’re not new to Kentucky,” said Chad McCoy (R-Bardstown), the bill’s primary sponsor. “I think all but about seven states have them … they’re schools created by contract with local school boards.”
Charter schools were legalized in Kentucky five years ago in 2017, McCoy said, but they weren’t given a pathway to be funded beyond the short term. HB9 would allow charters schools to be funded like a public school, with a mix of local and state funding. This bill wouldn’t change much about that initial law but allow smaller school districts, under 7,500, to vote on whether or not they want a charter school.
The bill would significantly impact Northern Kentucky as the area would be home to one of the pilot projects under the bill. The West End of Louisville would be the other one. McCoy called the river cities of Northern Kentucky an “education desert.”
Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents would need to oversee the charter pilot project. If they denied, school reps from Kenton and Campbell county to provide leadership on the project. Whoever decides to manage the charter school would need to report how the project is working back to the state, McCoy said on the floor.
When asking questions on the floor, Northern Kentucky Rep. Rachel Robert (D-Newport) questioned if NKU had been notified. McCoy responded that NKU requested the option to be permissive, so NKU can opt out if they choose. Roberts also highlighted some of the positive things happening in her district, which consists of several schools along the Ohio River.
“On behalf of kids in my district, I implore you; this will hurt children in Northern Kentucky,” Roberts said.
During the early morning committee meeting, Kenton County School Superintendent Henry Webb also spoke on the bill. He opposed the bill and noted that Kenton county has over 150 school options, public and private.
“To pass policy and say ‘we’ll figure it out’ is pretty bad policy when we’re considering public education in Kentucky,” Webb said. “I’m very passionate about public education, and I ask this committee to not roll the dice and say ‘we’ll figure it out.’”
Dr. Randy Poe, the executive director of Northern Kentucky Education Council, spoke to LINK nky about the bill last week. He said the legislator was using all-day kindergarten funding as a bargaining tool for the passage of House Bill 9.
“Of course within the budget is full-day kindergarten, which they passed last year as part of passing House Bill 563, which seems to be being held as leverage for other particular bills by the Senate,” Poe said. “They promised last year full-day K funding.
“It was part of the process that we were informed about that the Senate said in order to get full-day kindergarten, we need to create an entirely new bureaucracy with House Bill 9 on charter school funding.”
The controversial bill passed the committee by an 11-9 vote. HB9 was moved from the House Appropriations and Revenue committee last week after it became clear it wouldn’t have the votes to pass. The Education committee changed its makeup to accommodate the bill that was still narrowly passed.
In committee, Northern Kentucky Reps. Kim Banta (R-Ft. Mitchell) and Mark Hart (R-Falmouth) voted in favor of the bill, while Rep. Ed Massey (R-Union) voted against it.
