Tagged: charter schools

A leading Kentucky charter schools advocate says he’s hopeful the state House leadership will choose a new chairman for the House education committee who is open to charter schools.

The chairmanship became vacant last week when Democratic state Rep. Carl Rollins resigned to lead the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority and the CEO of the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation.

Voting along strict party lines, the Kentucky Senate has approved a bill that would allow persistently low-performing public schools to become charter schools.

FRANKFORT — Supporters of charter schools in Kentucky rallied Thursday at the Capitol Rotunda as a bill in the General Assembly makes its way through the legislative process. 

“I feel like the education isn’t good and they’re just warehousing kids to be on the streets, sort of like a daycare for kids.  We not getting any education, and I feel like a charter school would help that,” said James Yarbrough, a student at a school classified by the state as low-achieving and one of the rally participants.

Kentucky persistently low-achieving schools would be able to become charter schools to improve performance and test scores under a bill discussed Tuesday in the state Senate Education Committee.

The charter schools bill adds charters a a fifth option for what the state now calls "priority schools—schools that persistently get low scores.  The current options include re-staffing of teachers, firing the principal, giving the school up to outside management or closing the schools.