A bill that would fund charter schools with state and local tax money, and require two of the schools to open, passed the legislature on Tuesday.
House Bill 9, which was revised from its initial filing, allows local boards in districts with fewer than 7,500 students to effectively veto a charter school in their boundaries. If a charter school application is rejected in a district with more than 7,500 students, those seeking the charter would be able to appeal to the Kentucky Board of Education as in current law.
The bill also requires a charter school to be approved in Louisville and in northern Kentucky as a pilot program.
Asked in the House Education Committee why the bill targeted Louisville and northern Kentucky for charters, bill sponsor Rep. Chad McCoy, R-Bardstown, said a group of pastors in West End had been advocating for charters for several years.
“We are failing the minority kids in the West End of Louisville when it comes to education,” he said.
As for northern Kentucky, he said the area along the Ohio River there is an “education desert.”
Despite McCoy’s testimony that local tax revenues levied by school boards would not transfer to charter schools, when passing the bill on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, said that local taxes are necessary for charter schools.
“The SEEK funding formula that we apply here at the state encompasses the local contribution as well as the state funding and that state funding as we know is dependent on the local community’s ability to support the education of that student,” he said. “When we talk about SEEK funding, we often think it only encompasses what we send down through the general fund but SEEK itself includes local funds and SEEK will flow to the student because the funds are for educating the students.”
Rep. David Yates, D-Louisville, said he believes that transferring local taxes to charter schools is a violation of the state’s constitution.
Gov. Andy Beshear has spoken out against the bill and is expected to veto it. The legislature could vote to overturn the veto on April 13 or 14. If at least 51 House members vote to override the veto, it would then go to the Senate where at least 20 members would have to vote to override. The bill initially passed the House with 51 votes and the Senate with 22 votes.
