When Republican Matt Bevin was Governor of Kentucky, the state legislature passed a bill in 2017 authorizing charter schools. The law mandated that Louisville open a charter school. When it came time to set up a funding mechanism for charters, Democratic Governor Andy Beshear vetoed it.
When it came time to open a charter school, no one applied. The usual chains were not interested in opening a charter without funding.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported:
Last year, Kentucky lawmakers demanded that school district leaders in Louisville seek and approve at least one application for a charter school in 2023.
Just one problem: No one applied.
Jefferson County Public Schools’ charter school information portal shows just one group formally notified the district of their intent to apply. The group, however, did not end up actually doing that.
Kentucky Department of Education spokesperson Toni Konz Tatman similarly confirmed Thursday no one applied to open a charter school in Northern Kentucky – the second location mandated to have a charter. District leaders in that region get until July 1, 2024 under state law.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Charters are less connected to ideology and more interested in following the money. When there is no money, there is no interest. What about all the phantom kids on waiting lists?
Biden should learn this lesson as well and stop using federal funds to undermine the schools that students and families depend on, the public schools. The federal government should not be handing out federal dollars to schools that fail to deliver or, in some cases, even fail to open. The federal charter school program is a waste of public funds as charter schools are no better than public schools unless they are selective students and accept only those they believe have lots of potential. If billionaires are so supportive of charter schools, they should pay for them instead of trying to expand them by pilfering from public school budgets.
Andy Beshear is doing an amazing job in Kentucky. He has the courage of his convictions, and he is will to stand up for what he believes. He realizes that well funded public schools are an essential for the people of Kentucky. In addition to proposing a 5% raise for teachers, he is trying to expand preschool. He knows that public schools are building blocks to stronger communities, and he is willing to challenge paying for charter drain on state constitutional grounds. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2023/01/30/andy-beshear-education-plan
First Democratic governor in decades who made education a priority (since Richard Riley?). Will be interesting to see if he gets any political capital from it. If he does, he may be a beacon for others. If he doesn’t, at least we a good episode.
Go Kentucky!
Obviously, there was not the basketball approach. Recently in Chattanooga, a new charter opened, instantly becoming a basketball contender with only 9th graders. Their public competitors are crying foul, of course.
This all reminds me of the prayer In the school academies that sprung up after the Supreme Court decision on the early 1960s. Around here they were not supported very much at first. Then they discovered athletic programs to attract students not quite good enough to make the regular high school team. There was an explosion of interest in these institutions thereafter.
Did the prayer play like this?
Our pasta, who art in a colander,
draining be your noodles.
Thy noodle come,
Thy sauce be yum,
on top some grated Parmesan.
Give us this day, our garlic bread,
…and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trample
on our lawns.
And lead us not into vegetarianism,
but deliver us some pizza,
for thine is the meatball,
the noodle, and the sauce,
forever and ever.
Well said. Amen.
You forgot “thine is the football
It’s not “Amen”, it’s R’amen…
I didn’t forget fooball,
maybe The Church of the
Flying Spaghetti Monster
did. It’s their
Pastafarian Prayer.
The Fascist Republican Party doesn’t look like its going to go away any time soon. Therefore those MAGA RINO fascists will wait until another one of their RINOs is elected governor and then ram it through.