Kentucky School Advocate
May 2022
KSBA staff report
A bill that would fund charter schools with state and local tax money, and require two such schools will become law this summer.
House Bill 9 requires districts to transfer, on a per pupil basis, “all taxes and payments in lieu of taxes transferred to the district of location or levied and collected by the district” to fund the charter school.
The bill allows local boards in districts with fewer than 7,500 students to effectively veto a charter school in their boundaries. If a district with more than 7,500 students, rejects a charter school application those seeking the charter would be able to appeal to the Kentucky Board of Education as in current law.
The bill also requires charter schools to be approved in Louisville and in northern Kentucky.
Gov. Beshear vetoed the bill saying that charter schools would take money from the state’s already underfunded public schools. He said the bill is unconstitutional, however the legislature overrode the veto.
“Kentucky’s Constitution makes it clear that General Assembly shall by appropriate legislation, provide for an efficient system of common schools throughout the state,” he said. “Common schools are public schools and public taxpayer dollars, I believe under the Constitution, can only go to public schools.”
As the bill passed the Senate, Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, said that local taxes are necessary for charter schools.
“The SEEK funding formula that we apply here at the state encompasses the local contribution as well as the state funding and that state funding as we know is dependent on the local community’s ability to support the education of that student,” he said. “When we talk about SEEK funding, we often think it only encompasses what we send down through the general fund but SEEK itself includes local funds and SEEK will flow to the student because the funds are for educating the students.”
Bill sponsor Rep. Chad McCoy, R-Bardstown, when asked during a committee meeting why the bill singled out Louisville and northern Kentucky, said a group pf pastors in West End had been advocating for charters for several years and called northern Kentucky an “education desert”.
McCoy announced after the session ended that he will not be seeking re-election.