Kentucky’s governor, Matt Bevin, has signed a law authorizing the creation of unregulated charter schools that will receive public funding at the expense of public schools. The fact that the state would draw on public school funds to pay for the new charters came as a surprise to Democratic lawmakers when the state’s Legislature passed the bill earlier in March.

“This is absolutely one of the worst things I have seen happen to public education in my lifetime,” said the state’s Senate Minority Leader Ray Jones. “The people who will pay the price will be our children.”

The legislation transfers money from the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky funding program and calls for public school districts to pay for bus transportation for charter school students or provide the transportation.

Kentucky had been one of the few states without charter schools. After the Republican Party won control of the state government and the executive office in November, it moved swiftly to pursue a right-wing agenda. In January, the state enacted an anti-union “right-to-work” law blocking unions in the state from collecting fair-share fees from nonmember workers to cover their part of collective-bargaining costs.

The Courier-Journal, March 15
WFPL, March 22