Gov. Beshear vetoes Kentucky charter school funding bill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Gov. Andy Beshear has vetoed a bill funding public charter schools in Kentucky.

Beshear struck down House Bill 9, sponsored by House Majority Whip Chad McCoy, on Thursday. The legislation would provide federal, state and local money for charter schools, which have been legal since 2017 but have lacked a permanent funding mechanism, on proportionate per-pupil bases.

“I’m against charter schools,” Beshear said before signing his HB 9 veto. “They are wrong for our commonwealth. They take taxpayer dollars away from the already underfunded public schools in the commonwealth, and our taxpayer dollars should not be redirected to for-profit entities that run charter schools.”

Advocates for charter schools say they give families another choice in which schools their children attend.

The governor says he believes the funding mechanism outlined in HB 9 is unconstitutional, as is the requirement that at least one charter school open in Jefferson County and northern Kentucky.

HB 9 would require the Jefferson County Board of Education and either the Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents or a collective of members of local boards of education in counties with four or more school districts to approve at least one charter school "urban academy" to open in their jurisdictions for a five-year pilot project. academies focus enrollment for students living close to the school, according to HB 9.

The Jefferson County Public Schools and NKU boards would have until July 1, 2023, to approve their required charter schools while the collective would have an extra year to do so under HB 9.

"Picking out one or two areas is exactly how the last bill got declared unconstitutional and why the injunction is still in place," Beshear said, referring to a lower court ruling in October that found county population requirements in a newly passed law legalizing education opportunity accounts unconstitutional.

The legislature can override Beshear’s veto of HB 9 and other bills when the General Assembly reconvenes for the final two days of the 2022 legislative session.

The House passed HB 9 on a 51-46 vote on March 22, and the legislation cleared the Senate on a 22-14 vote a week later on March 29.

The House will need to maintain the 51 votes for HB 9 to override Beshear's veto while 20 votes are needed for such action in the Senate.

The House Republican leadership office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the governor's veto of HB 9.

House Democratic leadership applauded Beshear's decision Thursday. The General Assembly should not override the veto, House Minority Floor Leader Joni Jenkins, House Minority Caucus Chair Derrick Graham and House Minority Whip Angie Hatton said in a joint statement.

"We want to thank Governor Beshear for vetoing House Bill 9, which clearly goes against the constitutional requirement that the General Assembly provide an ‘efficient system of common schools throughout the state,'" the lower chamber's minority caucus leaders said in the statement.

"The only thing charter schools are efficient at is cherry-picking their students, avoiding public accountability and using our tax dollars to boost their private profits. These schools’ very definition, meanwhile, makes them anything but common."

This story may be updated.