A plan is in place to push toward funding charter schools in Kentucky, to get the new schools up and running across the Commonwealth. Because there's no way now to pay for the schools that are newly allowed to operate in Kentucky, none are set to open yet. So, Kentucky’s top educator, Commissioner of Education Dr. Wayne Lewis, is promising to work to make that happen; he wants a law passed to allow per-pupil state dollars to follow children into their charter school of choice, to pay for them to operate. However, some parents are concerned the the funding mechanism will hurt the more traditional public schools. 

• Although charter schools can legally open in Kentucky, there are none set to start because there's no funding set up. 
• Commissioner Wayne Lewis wants a state law passed, to allow the state's per-pupil funding to follow children into their public charter school of choice.
• Even if this proposal were to pass in 2019, Lewis says it could still take at least two years for the first school to open its doors.

“There’s no magic in being a charter school, right. Fundamentally, what makes a school a public charter school is the increased flexibility and autonomy the school has, and with that flexibility and autonomy, it’s the charter operator that makes decisions about the school’s curriculum, its offering, its instructional methods, its points of emphasis. So what results is, you get lots of different types of schools," Lewis, who's long been in favor of charter schools, exlplained the model. 

Although there are parents who want these schools to open, with less red-tape on operations, others don't believe the schools will live up to the hype for all students. Karin Bennett is one of those parents who have been against charter schools in Kentucky.

“Charter schools can cherry pick their students," Bennett said of the application process.

Bennett has concerns this new funding proposal Lewis plans to ask of lawmakers in 2019, could hurt other already existing schools financially. “I would say why don’t we start fully funding our public education first before we create a dual school system that will take tax dollars away from what is already underfunded public education?” she said. 

To that argument, Lewis denies there would be an affect on other schools. 

"If you believe that Oldham County takes money away from Jefferson County schools, or you believe that Jessamine County takes money away from Fayette County public schools when a parent moves, or you believe that sending a kid to a private or parochial school in Jefferson County takes money away from public schools because then dollars are not sent to Jefferson County for that student, if you believe those things, then maybe so. If however you believe and as the law works, that funds are provided for kids on a per pupil basis because we fund public education based on the kids that attend the schools, then no," Lewis said.