Thread by @TinaForKentucky

Yesterday a charter school bill was filed in KY. It is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad bill.
@kyhousedems #kyga22 #teacherlegislator
@NPEaction @DianeRavitch

1/17
apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/22rs/hb…

We are one of the few states that doesn't have charter schools. In 2017, we passed a bill to allow charters, but it did not include a funding mechanism. There was not much interest in charters without money. So today we don't have any. Zero.

2/17

We also don't have any voucher tax credit schemes. Parts of last session's bill were ruled unconstitutional and other issues are not yet resolved. They haven't given up, but at this point KY does not appropriate any tax dollars to private or parochial schools.

3/17

What we do have in KY is 171 school districts that are educating our students in public schools paid for by public tax dollars. We have amazing kids. Phenomenal teachers. Dedicated and hard-working staff.

4/17

But there is a movement to privatize public education. Milton Friedman. Betsy DeVos. Koch Brothers. Neoliberalism. Free markets. It is a "well-funded, laser-focused and integrated long game" (MacLean, 2021). KY's bill is directly from their privatization playbook.

5/17

In HB9, three authorizer categories are added beyond local school districts & mayors.
1️⃣ KY public or private universities
2️⃣ KY Public Charter School Commission
3️⃣ Any KY non-profit entities approved by KDE

No limit on the # of authorizers. No cap on the # of charters.

6/17

KY could become an example of Schumpeter's creative destruction at work, with innovative charter schools driving out obsolete public schools.

But the driving force here isn't innovation. It's profits.
And selling our children's education for a profit is wrong.

7/17

For-profit charter management companies are registered to lobby in KY. National Heritage Academies. K12. They aren't here to bring innovative education, they are here to do business.

And they must be drooling over KY's charter school bill.

8/17

Charter management organizations often have contracts called "sweeps" where all of the money directed to a charter school is swept into the for-profit management company. 100% of the money. Then the charter management company runs the school. 100% of the school.

9/17

The bill drafters were preparing for sweeps with this language, which comes after a couple of pages about benefits, sick leave, and retirement contributions for charter school employees. In a 100% sweep contract, NONE of the employees would work for the charter school.

10/17

The big national management chains out of NY, MI, and CA make a fortune on sweeps contracts. Their corporate offices in New York City or Los Angeles select the curriculum. Your tax dollars will pay huge leases to the real estate branches of their chains.

11/17

Taxpayer dollars that could have paid off a mortgage won't lead to a building owned by the charter school as it will be owned by profiteers from other states.

12/17

Their clever contracts, written by corporate lawyers, make sure that the for-profit chains own the books, the smart screens, and even the desks that KY taxpayers pay for.

This bill allows charter contracts to be written for up to 7 years. That's a long time.

13/17

And all of this might happen without the approval of locally elected school boards. Statewide authorizers can approve charter contracts in any district with > 5000 students without local agreement. That's not local control.

14/17

Yet districts have to give a proportional amount of all federal, state, and local dollars received to charter schools. Local taxes raised for local schools are required to be transferred to charters that may be managed by out-of-state for-profit companies.

15/17

Act now to protect public education in KY by advocating for changes in HB9.
1️⃣ Reduce the number of authorizers.
2️⃣ Cap the number of charters.
3️⃣ Reduce contracts to three years.
4️⃣ Ban sweeps contracts.
5️⃣ Require transparency of contracts with management organizations.

16/17

Or better yet, let's focus on making our public schools in KY the best in the nation.

17/17