There goes my reputation with teachers union

A Lexington Herald Leader editorial today exemplifies the schizophrenic behavior of the people who control Kentucky's public education system.

"Without measurable goals, it's impossible to say how much progress is being made. Metrics are the foundation of accountability."

While this statement is true, it doesn't really belong in a discussion of manipulated CATS scores or the Prichard Committee of Academic Excellence, whose primary functions seem to be promoting more funding and less accountability for schools.

For example, the editorial and Prichard continue to promote a flawed Kentucky Long-term Policy Research Center study that was discredited by the Bluegrass Institute a year ago.

"Consider that Kentucky advanced from 43rd nationally in 1992 to 34th in 2005 on 11 key indicators compiled by the Kentucky Long-term Policy Research Center."

As usual, the real agenda quickly emerges.

"One measure in which Kentucky still lags is local and state spending per student in elementary and secondary schools, which is 80 percent of the national average."
"Kentucky spent $7,827 in state and local funds per student compared with 20th-ranked Virginia's $9,958 in 2005-06."

In other words, they want another $1.3 billion a year.

And then, as if on cue, here comes the "less accountability" part:

"When the Kentucky legislature mandated the ACT for all juniors, the hope was that early results would enable schools to fix weaknesses in teaching and curriculum and spark interest in higher education among kids who hadn't thought of college."
"Worthy goals. Someone should figure out how to measure whether it's working well enough to justify the $1 million-plus cost to taxpayers."

Propping up illegitimate data from CATS and squeezing out the more objective ACT, all while demanding a huge cash infusion. Go fish.