You are here: Home / Archives for Justin Yeary

Charter School Myths: Services for Students

July 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Opponents of charter schools argue that charters aren’t a good deal for at-risk students and those with disabilities or behavioral problems.

The KEA, in their stated position on charter schools, claims that “most [charter schools] are not required to provide all the services that public schools provide, including (in some states) services to students with disabilities, lunch, libraries, athletics, and transportation.”

Although what the KEA says is true of many states, it would not be true with charter-school legislation proposed during the last legislative session of the Kentucky General Assembly:

  • Section 3(11) states that, “A charter school shall not discriminate against any student … on the basis of … disability.”
  • Section 3(15) also requires charter schools to provide adequate services and create a specialized program to address the needs of each individual student who has a disability.
  • Section 3(16)(b) also allows charter schools to qualify for funding to provide transportation to students.
  • Section 5(2)(n) also states that a charter school must provide details of its food services, implying it must offer such services

It is true that this bill explicitly states that charter schools are not required to provide other services mentioned to students, such as athletics and libraries. However, this does not mean that a charter school is forbidden from providing such services. In fact, the law explicitly states that if a charter school wishes to provide those things for students, then they are free to do so.

Most parents simply want what’s best for their kid, and for many children that includes access to libraries and athletic programs.

Charter schools depend on parents voluntarily choosing to send their kid to that school. So if the parents demand those services, then the charter school has to provide them because parents would not send their kids to school if they didn’t.

Kentucky has been implementing the policies favored by the KEA for the past 20 years, yet has seen little improvement in its academic performance.

It’s time to try something new — something that’s proven to work.

Kentucky children deserve to have a quality education, and charter schools are one way of providing that.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

Attention Kentucky lawmakers who claim you don’t know what a charter school is: Read the bill

July 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In a recent interview on “Pure Politics,” Rep. Brad Montell, R–Shelbyville, said “most legislators on both sides of the aisle, frankly, don’t know enough about charter schools.”

A bill sponsored by Montell that would allow charter schools in Kentucky was heard in the House Education Committee in February of this year. Montell requested that no vote be taken on the bill until legislators better understand what charter schools are and how they operate.

The bill defines a charter school as, “a nonsectarian, nonreligious, tuition-free public school that operates in accordance with the charter.”

The charter is a contractual agreement which the school makes with the charter authorizer that holds the school and its faculty accountable for attaining a certain level of student achievement results.

Exactly what are the standards that a charter school is held to? How do they measure the performance of students? The specific details will vary from school to school, based on the unique situation in a particular school district. The bill does, however, offer general guidelines.

Student achievement is measured by:

  • Academic proficiency
  • Academic growth
  • Achievement gaps
  • Attendance
  • Recurring enrollment
  • College or career readiness by grade 12

In exchange for being held accountable to high standards, charter schools are given freedom from many of the most onerous regulations that apply to traditional public schools. This allows teachers to have a lot of flexibility in their teaching methods and frees them from the unnecessary bureaucracy encountered in the public school system.

Some regulations do still apply to charter schools. Common-sense rules like compulsory student attendance, background checks on teachers and mandatory participation in state assessments of student performance are followed.

There are a lot of misleading statements being made about charter schools. In the next few blog posts, we will address some of these myths about – and also some criticisms of – charters. But for the time being, we’ve at least solved one of the greatest mysteries of this issue: the mystery of exactly what a charter school is.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: ,

‘1-percent’ argument doesn’t work for coal mining, either

June 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Supporters of the Environmental Protection Agency claim that “If the EPA were to back off, it would not create a single new job. It would not allow East Kentucky to sell a chunk more of coal. But it would give a greater advantage to the most irresponsible operators in the state.”

Where exactly do these environmentalists get their “facts” from? There can be little doubt that EPA regulations are preventing coal mines from opening up shop and putting Kentuckians to work.

But for the sake of argument, let’s assume what they say is true. Even if deregulation did not result in the creation of a single new coal-mining job, at least mines wouldn’t be forced to lay off hard-working Kentuckians due to job-killing regulations.

Opponents of the coal mining industry like to point to the fact that coal mining only accounts for 1 percent of all jobs in Kentucky. This is a very true – but deceptive – fact.

That 1-percent number fails to explain the geography of coal employment. Coal mines are mostly located in the Appalachian Mountains area, where more than 10 percent of total employment and 30 percent of overall wages earned comes from coal mining jobs.

It’s also the sad truth that in those very same counties, the average poverty rate is more than twice the national average. Yet coal miners in those communities earn an average salary of  $61,000.

For those communities where coal plays a vital economic role, mining jobs offer a stable income and a comfortable lifestyle. If the environmentalists and the EPA continue to wage war on coal, unemployment will drastically increase unemployment and kill good jobs in these economically vulnerable areas.

The greens claim that it’s all part of their agenda to help out Kentuckians by making the commonwealth a better place to live in. Call me crazy, but I don’t think taking away people’s jobs and throwing them into poverty is a good way to help someone out.

Filed Under: Energy, Increase Free Markets, News, Smaller Government Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Lisa Jackson & the EPA – Pot calling the kettle black

June 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently made the claim that, “Because [EPA critics’] main sources of information are not really being truthful in how they’re giving them information, we spend an awful lot of time trying to explain to people what we’re really doing.”

Naturally, this raises the question of how exactly the critics are being dishonest.

Nowhere in the article does Jackson point to any specific disinformation, lies or other falsehoods she claims are made by critics of the EPA. She offers no evidence to back up her vague and speculative claims, which calls into question her credibility on this subject.

And if this weren’t bad enough, Jackson engages in quite a bit of disinformation herself.

“One form of energy has to at least be subject to the same laws as the other forms are,” she said. “That’s what we’ve been working on as far as coal. I always tell people, it’s not about coal, it’s about the pollution that for too long has been associated with coal.”

If that is the case, then why is it that another 150 Kentuckians working in the coal mining industry will lose their jobs as a result of these burdensome regulations?

Why does one industry like coal get cracked down on by the bureaucrats in the EPA, while another industry like solar panels get showered in loans, subsidies and lax regulations?

That’s not what I’d consider “being subject to the same laws as the other forms [of energy] are”.

But go figure that Washington bureaucrats like Jackson don’t understand how these very real issues affect the lives and well-being of hard working Kentuckians in the coal mining industry. It’s not like her well-being and job are at risk from being crushed under the burdensome regulations.

Filed Under: Energy, Media, News, Smaller Government Tagged With: