Interim Joint Committee on Education to Take on Charter Schools Today

This from KSBA:

Legislative panel sets Monday afternoon hearing
on pros, cons of charter schools

Already preparing for the 2011 session, the General Assembly’s education panel will hear testimony Monday on one of the most controversial K-12 topics from the 2010 regular and special sessions – charter schools.

The Interim Joint Committee on Education has invited speakers with a wide variety of viewpoints on charter schools to testify at 1 p.m. in Room 149 of the Capitol Annex in Frankfort.

Three charter school bills were considered by the legislature in the two sessions earlier this year. The state’s application for millions in federal Race to the Top funds was a major factor in discussion of the issue. However, none of the bills move through the legislature.

Afterwards, proponents promised that they would file bills again for the 2011 session. As of today, no such bills have been prefiled.

The committee is to hear “A practitioner’s view of effective public charter schools” by Tracy McDaniel from the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program)...

Among the speakers scheduled to speak according to the meeting’s advance agenda are:

• KSBA Executive Director Bill Scott and Governmental Relations Director Shannon Pratt Stiglitz
• Kentucky Association of School Superintendents Executive Director Wilson Sears
• Kentucky Association of School Administrators and Hardin County Schools Associate Superintendent President Bobby Lewis
• Jefferson County Teachers’ Association President Brent McKim
• Jerry Stephenson, Chairman, Kentucky Education Restoration Alliance, a Louisville-based group that sought passage of charter school legislation this year
• Jim Waters, Vice President for Policy and Communications, Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, another group that promotes charter schools as an alternative to transitional public schools