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

FRANKFORT, Ky. — With just two days left for passing bills in this year's legislative session, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee said late Monday he believes some version of a charter schools bill will pass.

“I’m about 80 percent confident we will” pass a charter schools bill, said Sen. Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green.

But Wilson said he's still discussing the bill with the Senate's majority Republican leaders and declined to discuss what the bill is likely to look like when it emerges in the Senate.

“If it passes, it’ll have to pass on Wednesday" under the calendar adopted by leaders for the session, Wilson said. "So my hope is that we can all come to an agreement in time to do that. I can’t tell you any more than that.”

At issue is House Bill 520 that has passed the Kentucky House and must be approved by Wilson's committee before going to the full Senate for a vote. And as of late Monday, the Senate Education Committee had not scheduled its next meeting.

The bill would allow local school districts as well as Louisville and Lexington mayors to begin authorizing an unlimited number of charter schools as early as the 2017-2018 school year. Charter schools are publicly funded but run by private groups.

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A charter schools bill is the top remaining priority for Gov. Matt Bevin and many Republican leaders of the legislature as the session draws to a close.

Lawmakers are scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday to pass bills, then recess. Under the Kentucky Constitution, Bevin has 10 days (not including Sundays) to veto any bill. The General Assembly plans to reconvene for its final two days on March 29 to consider overriding any vetoes.

It could still pass bills on those last two days in late March, but it would be unable to override vetoes of bills passed on those days because under the Kentucky Constitution it must adjourn by midnight March 30.

The outlook seems much darker for the so-called "neighborhood schools" bill, House Bill 151, which with some exceptions would allow a public school student to attend the school closest to his or her home.

Critics have said that bill could lead to the resegregation of schools in Jefferson County. Wilson said that Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville, is trying to round up support in the Senate for the bill. "That issue is still with Dan Seum, and he has not given me any word on whether he wants to hear it or not," Wilson said.

Seum did not return phone messages on Monday.

Meanwhile on Monday, the group “Save Our Schools Kentucky” held a news conference in the Capitol in an 11th-hour effort to convince senators to put off the charter schools bill until next year.

“We do need to take a hard look at what it’s going to take to take public education to the next level, but charter schools is not the answer,” said Gay Adelmann, of Louisville, the co-founder of Save Our Schools Kentucky.

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Lucy Waterbury, a public school parent from Lexington, said the current version of House Bill 520 has been rushed and has problems, including giving control over charter schools to the governor-appointed state Board of Education rather than elected local school boards.

“Not this way, not this bill, not this session. The Commonwealth of Kentucky begs you to take the time to do it right. These children desperately count on us to get it right,” Waterbury said.

Charter schools look very different from state to state depending in large part on the laws that govern them. Supporters tout charter schools as a way to encourage competition. But opponents contend they siphon taxpayer dollars from public schools and, without effective oversight, can result in mismanagement and insufficient attention to equity.

A group of legislators, along with some Jefferson County Public Schools board members and others, are planning a news conference Tuesday to "call for stronger charter school legislation" than what HB 520 currently offers, noting for instance that the bill does not detail how charter schools would be funded.

Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, who will be part of that news conference, said he still expects the bill to move. He said the question is what form it will take and whether any major amendments will be allowed on the bill.

Neal has several amendments he plans to propose, including one to essentially pilot charter schools for five years. He said having a sunset provision for charter schools gives the state a chance to "scrutinize it carefully before we go forward."

Neal said he also plans to propose modifying language to require charter schools to prioritize enrollment of low-income students (the current language said that charter schools “may” do so), and to strike Louisville and Lexington mayors from being charter school authorizers, saying he thinks there may be a constitutional issue with mayors controlling school funds.

Neal said he also has concerns with provisions related to conversion charter schools, or schools that are converted from public schools to charters.

Neal said he thinks discussion on the bill has moved too quickly and too late into the session and that he’d rather see the legislature get charter school language right.

"We need to slow this train down a little bit and scrutinize things and have a good, honest discussion," he said.

Tom Loftus can be reached at 502-875-5136. Allison Ross can be reached at 502-582-4241.

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