Prefiled bill: Pilot charter schools in Louisville
Local school boards in Jefferson and Fayette counties would be able to approve the creation of up to two charter schools per year under a charter school pilot being proposed in a prefiled bill for the 2017 General Assembly.
The prefiled bill, which is being sponsored by state Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, is the first charter school bill to be filed ahead of this legislative session, although it may not be the only one.
Charter schools seem likelier than ever to be coming to the Bluegrass State, particularly with the recent election shifting control of the Kentucky House to Republicans and with Gov. Matt Bevin, a strong proponent of charter schools.
Kentucky is currently one of only a handful of states that don't allow charter schools, which are publicly funded schools run by private groups.
Charter schools are often freed from some of the regulations placed on traditional public schools, such as class size requirements or school calendar rules; the schools have contracts - or charters - with their authorizers that govern how they are supposed to run.
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Neal's 30-page bill, BR 51, proposes a five-year charter schools pilot in Jefferson and Fayette counties beginning in the 2018-2019 school year.
Under the prefiled bill, the Jefferson County Board of Education and the Fayette County Board of Education would be able to authorize up to two charter schools each per year during that pilot, with charter agreements not to exceed five years.
The bill mandates that any approved charter school be nonsectarian and cannot be started by a private school looking to convert to a charter.
The bill has several similarities to bills that have been filed in the legislature in previous years.
In 2016, a charter school bill filed by Sen. Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green, also created a five-year pilot charter school program in Jefferson and Fayette counties, with a maximum of two charter schools allowed to open per year in each county.
That bill passed out of the KentuckySenate but failed in the House - then under Democratic control.
The Kentucky Board of Education has not taken a position on charter schools but has offered up recommended best practices to legislators if charter school legislation does move forward.
Similarly, the Jefferson County Board of Education, which in recent years has been flatly against charter schools in its legislative agenda, appears poised this year to have a legislative agenda offering up its own list of best practices if charter school legislation were to go forward. The board is expected to vote on its legislative agenda at its meeting Tuesday.
Charter schools and the rules that govern them vary widely across the country, as do their outcomes.
For instance, a report on urban charter schools by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that, on average, urban charter school students performed better in math and reading compared to their traditional school counterparts. But those findings were mixed depending on the region being examined; in some communities, the majority of urban charter schools had smaller learning gains compared to their traditional school counterparts.
What are charter schools? A quick primer
Reporter Allison Ross can be reached at 502-582-4241. Follow the Courier-Journal's education team at Facebook.com/SchooledCJ.