It’s about kids, not geography

The commonwealth has serious problems with its public education system. Yet the entrenched establishment apparently is more concerned about the fact that no Kentuckians are among the four finalists for state education commissioner.

It’s understandable that Wilson Sears, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, would feel the pressure to lash out. After all, his constituents are school superintendents, and one of them wasn’t chosen as a finalist.

Sears claims “… no one from outside the state could better serve our children than a Kentucky superintendent.”

It’s one thing to claim the candidates aren’t as strong as they should be, as the Prichard Committee’s Cindy Heine does. It’s quite another to say that just because none of the candidates are from Kentucky, they couldn’t be an effective commissioner.

Considering our dismal education record in recent years, not being from Kentucky may be the best thing these candidates have going for them.