Kentucky School Advocate
February 2020
By Brenna R. Kelly
Staff writer
Locally elected board members are getting support from the Kentucky Board of Education on their wish to remove requirements for annual charter authorizer training.
The KBE has adopted a legislative agenda that includes removing the training requirements that are now mandated by the state under an administrative regulation. Currently, locally elected board members with zero to eight years of service as a charter authorizer must complete 12 hours of charter training each year and members with more than eight years of service as an authorizer must complete eight training hours each year.
At a Jan. 17 meeting, the KBE which was appointed in December by Gov. Andy Beshear, unanimously approved supporting a change that would require locally elected boards of education to undergo charter authorizer training only after a board has received a charter application.
“There’s been a consistent request from local boards of education to make some changes to the regulation that oversees how charter training is handled for them,” said Tracy Herman, KDE interim director of governmental relations. “We have not moved on that recently, but I think we are more likely at this moment to make some changes in those training requirements.”
Herman noted that the changes could either be made through administrative regulation or through the legislature where Rep. Regina Huff’s bill to address the issue, House Bill 220, has passed the House Education Committee. The bill would allow school boards to forgo charter training until an application is received.
“Either way, it will be resolved,” she said. “And we’ll move forward with alleviating those board training requirements.”
KSBA Executive Director Kerri Schelling said board members would welcome the elimination of the training hours before an application is received.
“The overly burdensome requirements have hindered locally elected board members’ ability to pursue training that would be more relevant to governing their districts,” Schelling said.
Eric Kennedy, KSBA’s director of advocacy, said he expects the bill to be heard in the full House soon.
“We urge all KSBA members to call the LRC message line to thank her for her support,” he said.
In addition to changing the requirements, either through regulation or statute, several local boards have asked the KBE for waivers from the charter authorizer training requirements.
In December, the previous KBE, made up of members appointed by former Gov. Matt Bevin, denied eight districts’ requests for waivers from the charter training requirements. Several of those districts have refiled the waivers and at least three new waivers have been submitted. The KBE could rule on the waivers at its Feb. 4 meeting.