All parents left behind

About every ten years or so, it seems like we need to have a task force to get everyone to feel good about public education in this state. We’re actually a bit late this time, but Governor Beshear is launching his new education initiative, called “Transforming Education in Kentucky” (TEK).

Anyway, after 20 years of KERA, we’ve seen this sort of thing before.

So, I am kind of surprised by the listing of task force members in the governor’s press release.

The obligatory legislators are there (and should be) along with the Commissioner of Education and the chair of the Council on Postsecondary Education. There are some school superintendents and a couple of classroom level teachers. There are the expected “nods” to the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and some other business folks. We get not one, but two key people from the teachers’ union. Basically, it’s the usual listing of elites we see time and again on these sorts of committees.

But, something is missing – a couple of rank and file parents. Not one is on the team. I don’t see anyone from either the state or local PTA or a PTO. Furthermore, there isn't a single parent member from a School Based Decision Making Council, either. That's really strange given all the hype we've been hearing about how our site base councils are so great that we don't need charter schools -- and the parent control they would bring -- in Kentucky.



None of the independent-thinking groups known to represent parent positions, e.g. The Family Foundation of Kentucky or the good old Bluegrass Institute, are on the team, either.

To reiterate, the absence of parents on this task force seems strange. As I recall, the last big task force, which ran somewhere around 1997 or so, had both the Kentucky PTA president and Martin Cothran from the Family Foundation on it. There certainly is a precedent.

Also, we’ve heard time and again how important parents are in their children’s education. For example, the Kentucky Board of Education discussed this just days ago in their meeting earlier this month.

Still, not a parent, or a parent focused support group, to be seen.

I wonder why?