Kentucky Tonight’s February 3, 2014 show was all about Charter Schools. The debate was cordial, but lively. Along the way, some “interesting” issues were raised.

Around 10-1/2 minutes into the show, host Bill Goodman asked about the difference between charter schools and Kentucky’s “Districts of Innovation.” The Districts of Innovation bill (House Bill 37) was enacted in 2012 as an attempt to deflect pressures from passing a real charter school bill.

Dr. Wayne Lewis responded to Goodman’s question this way:

“What Districts of Innovation does not do, however, is it does not allow for innovative practices to come into districts where districts have pressing, persistent, lingering problems that either they don’t have the will or the ability to really solve.”

Lewis makes a hugely important point. Districts of Innovation won’t help a bit in school systems where there is no interest or capability to solve problems. The program does nothing to bring in new staff, provides no enticement for new leadership. The Districts of Innovation program just tries to tweak the same, worn out school model that has hobbled Kentucky’s educational progress for decades.

Even worse, the initially limited interest in Districts of Innovation is sinking even further.

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Requests to become a District of Innovation can only be initiated by the existing school system hierarchy. That isn’t likely to happen very often under this bill, and it’s even less likely in those schools and districts that need innovation the most.

And, even if a district enters the program, except for 41 Persistently Low-Achieving Schools (Now called Priority Schools), 70 percent of the employees in each school have to vote to join the Innovation program. That isn’t very likely to happen very often, especially in those districts and schools that harbor a bad educator culture regarding student ability and a willingness to try something new.

Thus, Districts of Innovation is unlikely to influence precisely the districts and schools that most need innovation and reform.

Sadly, there is already dramatic evidence of such lackadaisical attitudes towards real innovation, and it is surprisingly widespread.

There was an alarming drop in interest in Districts of Innovation during the program’s second year of operation. In the first round of the Districts of Innovation competition in 2013, 16 school districts applied, but only four were selected.

In round two, for which the results were just announced on Wednesday, only four districts applied and only three more were added to the total number of active Districts of Innovation.

Thus, it looks like interest in this program is waning quickly within Kentucky’s existing education community.

Contrast that lack of interest to the obvious excitement present in states that have charter schools. A new report on charter school growth across the country shows interest remains keen and the numbers of charter schools – a true center of education innovation in this country – is constantly growing.

So, this is why Districts of Innovation are no substitute for charter schools. Kentucky’s Districts of Innovation program somehow expects educators in the existing system to miraculously make dramatic changes that few seem interested in pursuing.

But, Kentucky has a severe education problem that screams for real innovation. Despite nearly a quarter of a century of reformers trying to kick Kentucky’s traditional school system into a higher gear, the latest testing results from a multitude of sources show Bluegrass State student proficiency in key subjects like reading and math remains dismally low (search our blogs with keywords like “NAEP,” “KPREP,” “K-PREP,” “EXPLORE,” “PLAN” and “ACT” to find volumes of evidence).

In the end, the lack-luster interest in the Districts of Innovation shows most of Kentucky’s traditional, union-dominated education system really isn’t interested in innovating, anyway. Some sort of EXTERNAL pressure is needed.

This is why Kentucky needs real charter schools, not a bait-and-switch substitute. With real charter schools, new organizations OUTSIDE of the traditional, ingrown school system can create new schools that have a real eye towards effective innovations for students.

That is the big difference between Districts of Innovation and real charter schools, and this is why Districts of Innovation, which largely just continues on with the same, ingrown school entities and unions in power, is not the answer for Kentucky’s children.