HB520, the bill that will authorize privately managed charter schools in Kentucky, was approved by the Senate Education Committee and now will go to the full Senate for a vote. The Senate is in Republican hands. The Governor is a Republican.
The politicians in Kentucky seem poised to invite out-of-state corporations to come into Kentucky and take charge of public money and taxpayer dollars.
The governor says in the linked article that the people fighting charters are only out for adult interests. He has it backwards. The people fighting charters are parents and educators. The ones who want charters have dollar signs in their eyes, thinking about how they can get a piece of Kentucky’s public school budget.
Kentucky is one of only 7 states that do not yet have charters, which is the gateway drug to full privatization of public education. Republicans in Kentucky don’t want to be different. They want to be just like everyone else, even though there is no evidence that bringing in entrepreneurs and fast-buck chuck operators will mean better education for the neediest kids. If charters in Kentucky operate the way they do in most states, they will keep out the neediest kids and hang on to the ones that make them look good.
Public school parents: Wake up and vote these guys out of office when they run again. They don’t care about you or your children or your community. They are bowing down to the almighty dollar of the Waltons and the other billionaires who want to wipe out local control and democratically elected school boards.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m still waiting for the first public office holder to lose a position in large part due to their policies on education. I do think Jeb Bush’s ed policies contributed to his defeat in the 2016 GOP Primary, but I’m looking for someone who is actually VOTED OUT of office.
Totally agree with the post.
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Kentucky should learn about the fraud, waste, and abuse in the charter industry… and the destruction brought into communities that are infected with these “innocent” sounding options to their public schools. Charters are not public. They just want public funds.
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I was born in Kentucky, and educated in Kentucky public schools. I am delighted with this development, and I hope that Kentucky joins with the other 40+ states which have charter schools.
My grandmother taught at a one-room school in Grant County, and I am certain that she would be delighted that charter schools are coming to the Bluegrass State.
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Charles,
If you had children, you might feel differently
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If I had kids, I would proudly enroll them in the Fairfax county VA public schools, they are some of the finest in the country. Virginia has a tradition of excellent public schools.
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Charles, your idea of public schools is usually DC, but you forget that half the kids in DC are in charters, and the other half are in public schools that have been controlled by DeVos style reformers for 10 years. Still waiting for a DC miracle.
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My idea of public schools, is not solely based on the public schools in WashDC. The public schools here in Fairfax county VA are excellent, so are the public schools in Loudoun County.
Sadly, the public schools in our nation’s capital are very poor. Only 79% of eligible children even attend, the lowest rate in the country.
I do not know what it will take, to turn the public schools in WashDC around. The kids are the losers.
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Chris Hedges explains perfectly what is happening to our society. His discussions are posted on YouTube. In a nutshell he states that corporations are or have already taken over our society and our social institutions are also being corporatized and cites public education as one example. Of course he cites the rise of nationalism, militarism, scapegoating of minorities, racism etc as products of the neoliberal corporate control of politicians/government and the destruction of the middle class.
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More opportunities for Gulen schools to import teavhers and principals from Turkey.
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