Judge strikes down Kentucky's charter school funding law

A Kentucky law that would have created funding for charter schools has been struck down as unconstitutional.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled in favor of the Council for Better Education Inc., saying that the law was an attempt to "establish a separate class of publicly funded but privately controlled schools" that would create a "separate and unequal" system.

"There is no way to stretch the definition of 'common schools' so broadly that it would include such privately owned and operated schools that are exempt from the statutes and administrative regulationsgoverning public school education," he said in his ruling issued Monday.

The law was passed as House Bill 9 in 2022 and would have made it easier for charter schools to open in the state, The Courier Journal previously reported. Charter schools have been legal in Kentucky since 2017, but there are none largely because of a lack of funding.

HB 9 would have required Jefferson County Public Schools and a group in Northern Kentucky to each approve and oversee a charter school by July 2023.

The ruling sets the stage for an expected push by GOP legislators for a constitutional amendment on school choice in 2024.

When making his decision, Shepherd focused on the part of the definition that states "every child residing in the district" can attend a common school. Charter schools would have a limited amount of students.

"Charter schools may turn away qualified children residing in the district," court documents state. "The statute allows the charter school to define for itself 'the targeted student population and community it hopes to serve.'"

The ruling also argues that private entities that run the schools would not be regulated by the law even though they would receive public money.

"There is no restriction that would prohibit the takeover of charter schools by private equity investors who could increase their profits by draining the charter school of tax-dollar-funded resources needed to educate children," according to court documents.

Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed HB 9 in April 2022, but the veto was overridden and the bill passed later that month.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky charter school funding law struck down by judge