Hollow civil rights not just a problem in Louisville

Fayette County: Pay attention!

Bluegrass Institute’s syndicated columnist Jim Waters’ latest column discusses how talk without effective action still leaves black students at the back of the education bus in Kentucky.

Jim’s article focuses on Louisville, where only 22 percent of the black high school students were proficient in math in 2009 Kentucky Core Content Tests (KCCT).

But, don’t go getting smug on us, Fayette County.

Your high schools do an even worse job for blacks in high school, as this table shows.


Blacks in Fayette County have much higher proficiency rates than in Jefferson County in both elementary and middle schools, but Fayette County totally loses that advantage in its high schools.

With some impressive resources like both UK and Transylvania University that could be tapped right there in town, how does Lexington get itself into such a position compared to Louisville?

This is also a great example of how Louisville isn’t the only place in Kentucky that could benefit from some school choice options like charter schools. Charters, as we have pointed out before, do a great job for minority kids.