Kentucky Department of Education reports it’s looking at charter schools

The Courier-Journal’s news article about the Bluegrass Institute’s news conference yesterday concerning the new report on Kentucky’s lowest performing schools under No Child Left Behind contains a remarkable set of comments from the Kentucky Department of Education.

Says the Courier, Kentucky’s new education commissioner, Dr. Terry Holliday, is actively considering bringing charter schools to Kentucky. He (undoubtedly assisted by department staff members) is “examining potential costs, oversight rules and other issues surrounding charter schools.”

Department spokesperson Lisa Gross also said that, “We're not anti-charter, and we support looking into them.”

Perhaps so, but this is the first time I ever recall seeing anything about the department even exploring the idea of charter schools. Certainly, this is good news, and, as Kentucky’s leading organization pushing charter schools, the Bluegrass Institute hopes to interface with this exciting new effort that, done right, offers notable promise of improving education in Kentucky.