AG: Lawmakers must be careful with charter schools

FRANKFORT — Attorney General Andy Beshear said Tuesday legislation authorizing charter schools shouldn’t run afoul of the state constitution’s requirement for an efficient system of common schools.

Beshear didn’t say charter schools can’t comply with the constitution but he said lawmakers must be careful they don’t take away funding from public or “common” schools.

Section 183 of the state constitution says, “The General Assembly shall, by appropriate legislation, provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the State.”

Beshear said the Supreme Court decision in the Rose vs. Council for Better Education case which led to the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act also requires an “adequate” level of funding for public schools.

“So I think the legislature needs to be careful that any money they are going to siphon out of the public school system that they are also replacing because that case sets a constitutional requirement for a sufficiently funded public school system,” Beshear said.

Beshear’s comments came during a round-table interview about his first year in office, a discussion which ranged from his legal and political battles with Republican Gov. Matt Bevin to his legislative priorities to his future political plans.

Beshear said he loves his job at Attorney General and wouldn’t look beyond the three remaining three years of his term. Asked if he might run for governor in 2019, Beshear repeated his answer that he is focused on his current job.

He said he is involved in the search for a new chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party but gave no indications about when someone might be named other than to say “the process is moving.”

Beshear has sued Bevin over executive orders abolishing the University of Louisville Board of Trustees or mid-year funding cuts to universities. Bevin has accused Beshear of pursuing the litigation for political reasons and demanded Beshear “get his house in order” following charges against two employees and a sexual discrimination case against the office by another.

“I did not take this job to sue the governor,” Beshear said. “But I did take an oath to defend the constitution and Kentucky law.

“So each of those lawsuits to me has not been personal,” Beshear continued. “It’s been my duty as the chief protector of the constitution and the separation of powers.”

But he said that wouldn’t keep him from working with the governor on issues like human trafficking, child abuse and other issues they care about in common.

The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Bevin exceeded his authority in reducing university funding and a Franklin Circuit Judge ruled he again exceeded his authority in abolishing the UofL board and naming a new one.

Bevin is appealing that decision but Bevin and his attorneys have said they expect the legislature to legislatively codify his action on the UofL board. But the university’s accrediting agency has placed UofL on a one-year probation citing concern about “undue political influence” by the governor.

Beshear said he has not spoken with Republican legislative leaders specifically about the UofL case but he thinks in light of the SACS probation lawmakers may be reluctant to authorize Bevin’s actions in law because the ramifications for the university are so dire.

Beshear said his office doesn’t “have any more personnel issues than any cabinet in state government or the governor’s office itself.” Bevin, he said, won’t comment on personnel issues by policy but then goes on social media to talk about those in Beshear’s office.

Shortly after taking office, one of Beshear’s appointees, Tim Longmeyer was indicted and subsequently pleaded guilty to bribery charges stemming from his time in the administration of Gov. Steve Beshear, the attorney general’s father. Another employee hired by the previous attorney general is under investigation for misleading a grand jury and a former employee, a female, has sued the office claiming sexual discrimination.

Beshear said he’s enjoyed “significant accomplishments” during his first year as AG, including:

• Provided $8 million from a settlement with pharmaceutical companies for drug treatment centers;

• Creation of an office of Senior Protection;

• Record number of child molester arrests, indictments and convictions;

• Returned over $19 million to federal and state Medicaid programs;

• Returned $3.7 million to General Fund from multiple legal settlements;

• Provided $4.5 million to crime lab for rape kits;

• Made his office the lead agency in combating human trafficking.

He said his top legislative priorities for 2017 are legislation to combat heroin and fentanyl and an omnibus child protection bill.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnhifrankfort.