FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Kentucky affiliate of a national teachers union asked that a bill funding charter schools be pulled from a Senate committee hearing later Monday after it filed an ethics complaint against a state representative who voted for the measure.
KY 120 United AFT, which started as a grassroots advocacy group that later organized with the American Federation of Teachers, filed a complaint with the Legislative Ethics Commission against Rep. Kim Banta, R-Ft. Mitchell, alleging that her family stood to benefit if lawmakers fund charter schools.
House Bill 9, which narrowly mustered the 51 votes necessary to clear the House on Tuesday, would provide state per-pupil money for charter schools, which have been legal in Kentucky since 2017 but never permanently funded. The legislation would also require new charter schools in Louisville and northern Kentucky as part of a pilot project.
Hours after KY 120 United AFT's news conference, HB 9 cleared the Senate Education Committee on an 8-3 vote with one "pass" vote.
Stacy Crosslin, a member of KY 120 United AFT, cited a recent report from The Courier Journal that questioned Banta’s husband work as an executive at a northern Kentucky company, owned by a school choice supporter, and whether the charter school legislation would benefit an ongoing real estate development project near Cincinnati. The company, Corporex, denied that a school would be part of the project.
Banta rejected KY 120 United AFT's claims of impropriety in her support of HB 9, though she deferred comment on the ethics complaint itself until she had read the document.
"False rumors that were deliberately spread on social media have unfortunately taken the place of a rational conversation about the merits of this public policy," she said in a statement. "I have not received a copy of the ethics complaint and will not comment on it until I have had a chance to review it. In the meantime, I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong and my priority continues to be serving the people of my district and advocating for students and parents."
Crosslin said the group also planned to file a complaint with Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office alleging state constitutional violations.
“It just feels shameful to see what appears to be deals made off the backs of our children,” Crosslin said. “School employees are well versed in protecting our students from school shooters and abusive homes. We never dreamed we would be tasked with protecting every child in the commonwealth from the legislators paid by taxpayers and entrusted with moving our state forward.”
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