Todd Ziebarth, Senior Vice President for State Advocacy and Support at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, released the following statement regarding the trial court’s decision to declare Kentucky’s charter statute unconstitutional:
“Last year, the Kentucky legislature took a bold step by passing House Bill 9, a law that created a permanent funding mechanism for public charter schools in the Bluegrass State. Unfortunately, Judge Shepherd delayed Kentucky’s pathway to providing additional high-quality public school options for thousands of Kentucky families by striking down that law today. It is deeply disappointing to see the will of thousands of Kentucky families ignored.“HB 9 was challenged by the Council for Better Education, alleging charter schools are not public schools and cannot receive public school funding. The Council for Better Education is not the first plaintiff to make these arguments. All Kentucky charter schools are public schools eligible to receive the same funding as other public schools in the state. Just like we’ve prevailed in other states, we believe the Kentucky Supreme Court will ultimately side with families in the Bluegrass State so they will have the public education choices they deserve. We stand with the people of Kentucky and look forward to appealing this decision.”
