HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Northern Kentucky University’s (NKU) Board of Regents passed on the opportunity to vote on charter schools in the region.
When NKU Board of Regents Chair Rich Boehne called a motion to vote on whether to accept the role of authorizer of a pilot charter school in Kenton County or Campbell County, there was silence amongst the other board members.
“Therefore, a vote will not be taken,” Boehene said at the meeting.
Earlier this year, the Kentucky legislature passed House Bill 9, which established the Kentucky Public Charter School Pilot Project. An authorizer is tasked with choosing the school’s operator, tracking progress and being accountable for the school.
The law also states that if the board wishes to serve in this capacity, it must vote to confirm its participation by Jan. 1, 2023.
At first, The NKU Board of Regents was told it was going to be an authorizer of one or more public charter schools, Boehne said. The language was amended so that the board would have the option. The board had to vote to confirm its participation by Jan. 1, 2023.
“We played no role in developing the language, or describing the role we would be taking. It just kind of appeared that we would have this option. So then we spend the last months trying to get ourselves up to speed,” Boehne said.
He said the board studied charter schools and talked to people across the country involved in charter schools. The board also studied House Bill 9, and how its role as an authorizer would be defined.
“As we came through that, it became more and more clear to us that we felt like, with the language, that the very narrow opportunity that we were handed, based on very specific language, we didn’t think was going to be workable. We certainly had no ambition to let down the legislature or the people of northern Kentucky by coming into a role that we didn’t think could work as it was defined,” Boehne said.
Had there been a vote, “There are people on our board, I think, that would’ve voted ‘yes,’ being supportive of being an authorizer,” Boehne said. “And I think there are those who would’ve voted ‘no,’ but there was a very consistent and broad consensus that the opportunity as defined in House Bill 9, we just didn’t think, was going to be workable.”
He then explained some of the board’s biggest concerns.
“The timeline was incredibly aggressive. There was no startup funding to support us as we moved toward a launch. You eventually receive some compensation as an authorizer, but no funding to get us from here to there,” Boehne said. “It was an obligation of the board of regents, not of the broad university. So we talked a lot about what it would mean for the board of regents that already governs the university, to take on, in essence, a second job overseeing charter schools.”
At the meeting, a few people spoke to support charter schools, including Greg Fischer, chairman of Fischer Homes.
“Too many of our school age students are being left behind, especially those faced with additional headwinds like poverty, language barriers, and mental health,” Fischer said. “We believe that NKU should accept the authorizer role. It is likely that one or more charter schools will end up in northern Kentucky, and NKU is in the perfect position to be the authorizer.”
A group of northern Kentucky community leaders, including Fischer, have established a Northern Kentucky Education Task Force to determine the next steps for charter schools in the region. The group has put up $2 million toward that goal, Fischer said, and is hoping to raise $20 million.