Lawmakers Informed On Charter Schools

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...Speaking before the House Education Committee at the Capitol in Frankfort Tuesday, leaders of charter schools told lawmakers why they favor a proposal by Republican Representative Brad Montell of Shelbyville that would allow charter schools in Kentucky. Lisa Grover, senior director of state advocacy for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and a founder of the first charter school in New Mexico, said charter schools work  because they allow for innovation and are tailored to the needs of the students they serve. Grover said Montell’s bill has strong safeguards to ensure accountability, including requiring the schools to meet or exceed standards, and allowing them to be closed if they do not. Wilson Sears, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, said public education in the state has greatly improved in the 50 years he has been an educator, and Kentucky’s schools are now ranked 14th nationally. He said that suggests public educators are doing an exceptional job. Sharron Oxendine, president of the Kentucky Education Association, said Montell’s bill “is not the answer.” She said she would like to look at the good things charter schools are doing and apply those examples to all public schools, but not strip other schools of funding in lean times.