Like Marty and Doc in the 1985 science-fiction blockbuster “Back to the Future,” we find ourselves returning to the past to ensure the Big Bold Future we know can be ours!

This year brought blow after blow, showing Kentucky losing ground to other states on important indicators of education progress.

As a nation, we just received the first look at the long-term impact of the pandemic on student learning. These new national scores show 2022 reading and math results for nine-year-olds on the NAEP Long-Term Assessment. The results are sobering, reversing years of progress.

As schools are starting to open and, across the nation, we are hearing resounding concern about teacher shortages, there is no more important time to celebrate the work Kentucky teachers do – day in and day out. When it comes to what our schools can do to prepare each and every learner for a bright future, research confirms that teaching matters most. Yet so many stories of the impact a teacher has in his or her classroom are overshadowed by the shear busyness of our lives and the extraordinarily tense public-political world we find ourselves in.

With the passage of 2022’s House Bill 9, Kentucky has moved a step closer to having some public charter schools. That step invites many different questions about policy, impact, evidence, principles, and practicalities. Today, we’re releasing a series of posts by Susan Perkins Weston, each aimed at one major question we’ve heard recently and also over the years since the Prichard Committee’s “Exploring Charter Schools in Kentucky: An Informational Guide” came out in November 2015.

“The Prichard Committee opposes Senate Bill 1 with the addition of Senate Bill 138 as passed this morning. Kentucky has an established process of standard revision set forth in Senate Bill 1 (2017) and a commitment to local decision-making for curriculum and instructional materials, which is inclusive of parents and local leaders. The existing process is a systemic way to develop the state’s standards and curriculum frameworks, serving to empower all Kentucky students with the abilities and capacities needed to become informed citizens and participants in a global economy. Legislative mandates, as put forth in Senate Bill 138, may reduce the quality of education provided by Kentucky’s public schools and received by Kentucky’s students.”

As passed on the House floor yesterday, the Prichard Committee opposes House Bill 9. The pilot program introduced in the bill yesterday could compel authorizers to approve public charter schools that do not meet the quality requirements for a charter applicant. Therefore, House Bill 9 does not fit our long-stated position that any charter school system be well-regulated and accountable for improved academic outcomes.

The Prichard Committee has not been a proponent nor an opponent of public charter schools. We believe that is the wrong question. Rather, the question we ask is: How do we close longstanding and persistent achievement gaps in our state?

When analyzing the research on charter school effectiveness, The Center for Research on Student Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University is still the gold standard.

A growing economy where Kentuckians have access to jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage and the opportunity to build wealth. A future where every Kentuckian can thrive, contribute to, and benefit from our shared progress as a state.

This is the Big Bold Future we envision.