Editor’s note: This article appeared Wednesday on Kentucky’s wfpl.org. You can listen to a podcast with Step Up For Students president Doug Tuthill and Kentucky Rep. Chad McCoy here.
Opponents say charter schools skim off students and funding from cash-strapped public schools, and that the lack of regulation makes them less accountable to the public.
House Bill 9, sponsored by Bardstown Republican Rep. Chad McCoy, would require school districts to fund charter schools within their boundaries on a per-student basis. State, local and federal funds that would normally follow a student to a traditional public school, would instead be sent to the charter school the student attends.
The bill also expands the kinds of charter “authorizers:” regulatory bodies with the power to approve applications from groups who want to open charter schools. Authorizers also have the power to close charter schools or decline to renew contracts, which are usually time limited.
The 2017 charter school law allows school districts and mayors to authorize charter schools. McCoy’s measure adds Kentucky’s accredited public and private universities to the list, the Kentucky Board of Education, state-approved non-profit organizations and a new body the bill would create called the Kentucky Public Charter School Commission.
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