Why Do We Need Public Charter Schools in Kentucky?

Like many states, Kentucky has seen drastic increases in spending on education, but has little to show for it. About a quarter of our kids don’t graduate at all, and of those that do, about half require remediation before they can attend a community college. Across the country, many public charter schools have demonstrated the ability to drastically improve both high school and college graduation rates. This is good for our kids, their communities, and for the health and economic development of our Commonwealth.

Our economic health is dependent, among other things, on our ability to attract business to Kentucky. According to Greater Louisville Inc., Louisville’s Chamber of Commerce, one of the greatest challenges to this is the readiness of our workforce, especially when our geographic neighbors (i.e., competitors) are outpacing us.

Our bureaucracy is exceptionally heavy in Kentucky; we have the lowest teacher to staff ratio in the country. This makes Kentucky exceptionally fertile ground for charter schools to show a marked improvement over the status quo.

Our educational system has one purpose, to give our kids the best public education we can. Our tax dollars shouldn’t fund systems, they should invest in children, and once we set that priority for ourselves, that we will put kids first, we will be well on the path to providing the options needed to be sure every kid can excel.