A Kentucky legislative panel will hear testimony from charter school advocates next Monday ahead of next year’s legislative session.
The request came from the recently created Kentucky Charter Schools Association and its chairman, Hal Heiner, who says for the past three years charter school legislation has been rejected by the state legislature. Specifically, Heiner takes aim at House Democrats on the education committee who have refused to give charter schools a fair hearing.“One of the goals is to inform house Democrats, help them understand the need for education reform in Kentucky," he says.Earlier this year, the Kentucky Charter Schools Association hosted a public forum on charter schools with high profile speakers like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Rand Paul.Speakers at Monday’s interim joint education committee hearing include Ken Campbell, president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, Wayne Lewis, associate professor, at the University of Kentucky and KCSA board member, and Margaret Raymond, director of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University.“Our hope [is] that the citizen effort, the grassroots effort, the parents that are jumping in will convince their representatives that we need to try public charter schools in Kentucky.”
