Kentucky Governor Talks Charter Schools

This from WFPL:

The Common Core standards and charter schools were discussed Monday when Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence appeared on a panel in New York City on public education at the state level.

The panel is part of NBC's 2013 Education Nation Summit.

Beshear was questioned about why Kentucky has not adopted charter school legislation when most states have. He says some charter schools aren’t as effective as traditional public schools and he wants public funds to go to public schools.

Some argue that charter schools—often managed by an outside organization or group—aren't public schools and drive money away from more traditional school systems. Gov. Pence, in his comments, rejected this notion.

But Beshear says if Kentucky did adopt charter legislation—which it has failed to do in recent years—local school boards would need to be involved.

“If we do something like that in Kentucky [charter schools] it will be to put that tool of a charter school in the hands of our school boards. If they need that, if they see it in their district—a need to do something like a charter school to straighten out a low performing school or something like that, then that approach might work in Kentucky," Beshear says.

There are a variety of charter school laws states have adopted, some having tougher restrictions than others.

Kentucky and Beshear were also called leaders for being the first state to adopt the Common Core standards that update what students should learn in math and English language arts...