Mountjoy resigns as education secretary

Helen Mountjoy is resigning from her position as Kentucky Education Secretary effective November 30, 2009.

Mountjoy has been a key player in the implementation of KERA for many years, first as an outspoken member and later chair of the Kentucky Board of Education, and then as Education Secretary since 2007.

Mountjoy’s surprise announcement, coming just days after another key presence in Kentucky education policy, Senator Dan Kelly, announced he was leaving the state legislature, greatly expands the suddenly growing power vacuum on both sides of the issues in the state’s education policy making group.

Mountjoy staunchly defended many of the Progressive Education theories and concepts that were adopted in KERA’s early days. For example, she strongly supported keeping the now failed KIRIS and CATS assessments right up to the point that the legislature voted to disband each of those highly criticized school testing programs.

Given the fact that the real power in education in Kentucky rests with the Kentucky Board of Education and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, Mountjoy’s influence as education secretary was certainly reduced from her days on the board of education. However, even in the education secretary position, Mountjoy remained actively involved in trying to shape the conversation.

The governor’s recently announced Transforming Education in Kentucky Task Force is viewed in some quarters as a Mountjoy effort to influence the discussion on KERA’s future direction. In fact, it is reported that Mountjoy will continue to function as the governor’s “point person” on this effort after she leaves official office. That raises a question about possible limits on the authority of whoever replaces Mountjoy as Kentucky Education Secretary, further muddying the waters about who will become the new key players in what now could become a profoundly altered education policy landscape.