The House and Senate overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of House Bill 9, the charter school funding bill that will bring a charter school to Northern Kentucky.
The bill’s original passage in the House had a narrow vote of 51-46, but the proponents of the bill gained a vote in Rep. Michael Pollock (R-Campbellsville) to bring the total of the override to 52-46. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 22-15.
“Our taxpayer dollars should not be redirected to for-profit entities that run charter schools,” Beshear said in a press conference on his veto. “As attorney general, I can tell you the number of prosecutions we had against for-profit colleges. How so many of them took advantage of so many people, and the idea that we would open up the same ability for people to prey on our even younger students is simply not the direction Kentucky should go.”
Rep. Rachel Roberts (D-Newport) spoke out against the override on the floor.
“Families in my area, the 67th in Northern Kentucky, are not asking for this,” Roberts said. “Northern Kentucky University did not ask to be thrust into this mess.”
Under the bill, NKU would be an authorizer. But, the university didn’t know it would be an authorizer until reports of the bill became public.
“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.”
If NKU passes on being an authorizer, an 18-member panel from Campbell and Kenton County schools will be put in place to authorize the schools. But, under the bill, Kenton County would likely be the destination due to odd language in the bill that would take away veto power from counties where independent school districts have over 7,500 students. Kenton County is the only county in the state this applies.
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 with a combined total enrollment of around 6,600 (Fort Thomas Independent has approximately 3,200; Newport Independent has about 1,500; Dayton Independent has approximately 1,000; Bellevue Independent has approximately 660; and Southgate Independent has approximately 200).
The bill will now face potential constitutional challenges and lawsuits. Rep. Kim Banta (R-Ft. Mitchell still faces a potential ethics complaint filed by KY 120 United-AFT, a teachers’ advocacy group. The complaint stems from Banta’s husband, Tom, who is the person overseeing the Ovation Project. The project is where some allege the charter school will be placed, but LINK nky found through Industrial Revenue Bonds that the school can’t have a school. It could, however, be located on a yet-to-be-named nearby property.
“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, during the committee meeting ahead of the bill’s passage. “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.”