GOP blindsides Democrats with surprise bill to fund charter schools

FRANKFORT, Ky.— In a whirlwind day in the Kentucky legislature, a long-sought charter schools bill won final passage Wednesday and now goes to Gov. Matt Bevin, an ardent supporter who testified earlier that day in favor of the measure and is expected to sign it into law.

Meanwhile, shortly after the Senate passed  House Bill 520 to authorize charter schools in Kentucky — one of the few states without them — lawmakers were confronted with a surprise measure to cover the cost with public school funds.

Senate Republicans, who control the chamber, blindsided Democrats with the last-minute proposal after repeatedly sidestepping questions during the earlier debate about how the state would pay for charter schools.

Sen. Ray Jones, a Pikeville Democrat and Senate minority leader, blasted the move, saying it confirmed his suspicion the state will siphon money from already underfunded public schools.

"This is absolutely one of the worst things I have seen happen to public education in my lifetime," Jones said. "The people who will pay the price will be our children."

The funding proposal, attached to House Bill 471, an unrelated budget bill, would transfer federal funds and state "SEEK,'' or Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, money to cover the costs of students who move to charter schools. It also calls for public school districts to fund bus transportation for charter school students or provide the transportation.

►READ MORE: Baptist Health's layoffs include nearly 170 in local area

►SEE ALSO: Chief Conrad ended earlier investigation into cop accused of sex abuse

The funding measure was swiftly passed by the Senate on a 24-14 vote despite angry protests of Democrats. It was given final approval by the House late Wednesday.

Sen. David Givens, a Greensburg Republican, and a member of Senate leadership, said the funding measure had been included in an early version of HB 520 though it was later removed, and should not have surprised anyone.

"This is not something new or novel," he said.

But Sen. Reginald Thomas, a Lexington Democrat, denounced the move as 'secretive."

"That was kept in the closet," Thomas said. "We knew nothing about it at all."

"We kept asking, where's the money going to come from?" said Sen. Morgan McGarvey at a meeting of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee where the funding measure was introduced after the Senate had already approved charter schools.

The Senate voted  23-15 to approve HB 520, which will allow local school districts as well as Louisville and Lexington mayors to begin authorizing an unlimited number of charter schools as early as the 2017-18 school year.

Bevin, who publicly backed the bill, testified in favor of it Wednesday morning at the Senate education committee meeting.

Bevin said it is "entirely untrue" that charter schools signal the beginning of the end for public education.

Rather, they give communities the ability to offer students a better choice, Bevin said.

Charter schools have long been sought by Republicans but were blocked in House when it was controlled by Democrats. Republicans took over that chamber this year after gaining seats in the November election.

Charter schools are publicly funded but run by outside groups such as nonprofit organizations, groups of teachers and others. Democrats questioned whether for-profit companies would be allowed to run Kentucky charter schools.

Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, voted against the bill and said legislators were doing the state a "disservice" by pushing the proposal through the Senate despite questions that he and some others felt weren't fully addressed.

The bill "is not ready for prime time," Neal said.

►MORE:  Charter schools bill has 80% shot of passing, lawmaker says

►MORE:  Bill to strip attorney general's powers being revised

HB 520 says that "an application to establish a public charter school may be submitted to a public charter school authorizer by teachers, parents, school administrators, community residents, public organizations, nonprofit organizations, or a combination thereof."

Some lawmakers questioned what qualifies as a "public organization," which is not defined in the bill, although Givens said that it is his understanding that for-profit companies do not count as public organizations. Democrats said the bill should specifically bar for-profit corporations from applying to open a charter school.

The bill does not preclude a charter school from contracting with a for-profit entity to handle the management or operations of the institution.

Thomas told the Senate on Wednesday that the bill "allows dark money now to come into Kentucky and use that dark money to treat our schools now as for-profit centers. Our children, with the passage of this bill and its adoption into law ... become for-profit units."

"We owe them better than this," he said. "This is the right thing to do."

►MORE:  JCPS board: Fischer 'blindsided' us with charter schools stance

►MORE:  School boards group opposing current charter bill

Kentucky Education Association president Stephanie Winkler testified that this bill would allow charter schools to rake in money that would have gone to public schools.

The public charter schools this bill would permit are public "in name only," Winkler said. She added every dollar that goes to a charter institution is a dollar that won’t go to traditional schools.

Several Republicans said they hope anyone who opens a charter school will focus on serving poor and vulnerable students. The bill requires those interested in creating a charter school to include details regarding their targeted student population in the application, but it doesn’t explicitly require charter schools to target underprivileged or at-risk students.

Some of the debate around charter schools has centered on the failure to close the achievement gap among students in traditional public schools, but Neal and others who spoke against the bill in Frankfort on Wednesday pointed out that the state hasn’t provided enough financial support to its education system over the years.

"I do not join those who demonize our public schools," Neal said. "But we have underfunded the system. There’s no question about it in Jefferson County."

Reporter Allison Ross can be reached at 502-582-4241. Reporter Morgan Watkins can be reached at 502-875-5136. Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at 502-582-4228.