Still more 'get' the push for charter schools in Kentucky

A new editorial in the Lexington Herald-Leader shows more people are getting the message that charter schools might help with our chronically low performing schools. It’s one approach that hasn’t been tried here before (charter schools are not legal in Kentucky) that is starting to show success elsewhere when the charters are properly set up and managed.

It’s also interesting to note that the Herald-Leader understands that, “Kentucky law has strong language authorizing state intervention in failing schools. But the state has never put much muscle behind the words.”

That’s not really correct.

Back in the 1990’s the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) did take over the Floyd County School system. They sent in Distinguished Educators (now called Highly Skilled Educators) and tried all sorts of Progressive Education fad ideas that were constantly being pushed during the early days of KERA.

Problem was: it didn’t work out too well. The KDE showed it didn’t run schools very well.

Schools should run schools, not bureaucrats from Frankfort.

That is one reason why the charter school idea is so appealing. Frankfort would not run them, the new school staff brought on board does, overseen by a local group that holds the school charter. Done right, those local charter schools would make progress without the sort of interference from Frankfort that history showed didn’t work in Floyd County.