All parents left behind – Follow-up

Apparently, I am not the only one who has reservations about the announcement yesterday of Governor Steve Beshear’s “Transforming Education in Kentucky” (TEK) Task Force.

Herald-Leader Reporter Jim Warren contacted Senator David Williams, the ranking leader in the Kentucky Senate, and writes:

“Williams, however, argued that the governor was covering old ground.

‘I respectfully submit that it is past time for your administration to move beyond discussion and to immediate action,’ he wrote to Beshear.”

I tend to agree with Senator Williams, especially since the task force membership completely snubbed parent involvement – not one member from a PTA, local or state – not one PTO member – and most glaring of all, not one parent member from a School Based Decision Making Council (SBDM)!

That last, incredible omission may say more than anything else about the real importance and influence of parents on SBDMs. As a voting minority, SBDM parents are not even worth including on the TEK Task Force.

By the way, I don’t see any classroom level college instructors, either.



Imagine that. We know we have to integrate our P to 12 system with the needs of our colleges. Senate Bill 1 covers that very nicely. But, while this TEK group is absolutely loaded with P to 12 people, there is only one, lone college voice, and that isn’t the voice of a working college professor, either.

I am not saying that this new TEK Task Force can’t produce anything valuable. But, the governor’s effort starts out on a poor footing, ignoring college professors who are just now getting a decent and badly needed voice in the process thanks to Senate Bill 1.

Maybe the governor’s staff will recognize these oversights and add at least two parent representatives and several working college professors to the TEKS group. The further addition of an independent-thinking group like the Family Foundation of Kentucky, the new Kentucky Education Restoration Alliance, Inc. (formed by blacks in Louisville who have had enough of the lack of education for their kids), or even the Bluegrass Institute might help to recover some credibility for this effort, as well.