A Kentucky legislative education committee will hold a public hearing on charter schools this week. The request came from the Kentucky Charter Schools Association, which was created by its chairman, Hal Heiner, this year.
Heiner says for the past three years charter school legislation has been rejected by the state legislature and House Democrats on the education committee have refused to give charter schools a fair hearing. “One of the goals," he says, "is to inform house Democrats, help them understand the need for education reform in Kentucky.”
Earlier this year, Heiner’s group 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 hearing include the president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options and the director of Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes.
Kentucky is one of eight states without some form of a charter school law on the books.
