KY120 United AFT official position on HB 9:
Kentucky 120 United AFT firmly opposes House Bill 9, sponsored by Representatives McCoy, Koenig, and Santoro, which will have detrimental consequences for public schools and particularly for children in low-income communities.
House Bill 9 proposes the creation of a state agency that would authorize charter schools statewide. This sets up a “Hunger Games” situation between entities that are already suffering from a decade of cuts, like universities, and introducing new players into the field of education—some non-profit entities that will be approved by the Kentucky Board of Education. The result: a total loss of local control of education and the potential for groups to run schools as money-making organizations much like the management systems of modern American prisons, funneling money intended to teach and care for children to for-profit vendors. We pay taxes to support the best public education possible for our children. Over the last five years, we’ve cut funding for transportation, textbooks, professional development from our public schools, yet now supporters of HB9 say we have millions of dollars to fund an entirely new system. It does not make sense.
The proposed bill allows for charter school contracts that last up to seven years, when three-year periods are the norm. This provision essentially permits long-term experiments on our school children. These charter schools would lack the transparency of both public schools and charter schools in other states, like Ohio, which mandates public posting of all contractors and management providers, along with their profit status.
Under HB 9, students’ learning could be managed by a for-profit organization for nearly a decade with no contract limit. Money is equally funneled away from communities in that the bill would not recognize charter school workers as state workers, and therefore they would lack the benefits and protections afforded similar workers in public schools. It further weakens the number of teachers entering the pension system where new hires are necessary to support the foundation of a pension. In many counties, the school district is the single largest employer, and in most rural counties, is one of the largest employers with the best benefits – HB 9 will further damage our poorest communities.