Free-market factoid: Right-to-work states win most job growth

The 22 states with right-to-work laws, which protect workers' economic freedoms, enjoyed an average 38.5 percent increase in jobs from 1990 to 2009. States with right-to-work laws experienced more than twice as much job growth as states that force workers to join unions, including Kentucky. --Bureau of Labor Statistics cited in Buckeye Institute's "State of the State" report.

Big-spending budgeters were 'California Dreamin' during session

The Kentucky General Assembly concluded its legislative session on April 15 without a budget. Gov. Beshear, who's trying to blame the Legislature, didn't help matters much by proposing a spending plan containing $780 million in gambling revenue that he knew did not have lawmakers' support.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon.

Teacher prep chaos

Education Week says a new National Research Council report shows that the best available data indicates teachers who get certified through alternative programs do just as well as teachers who come from the traditional education school route.

However, the report says a lot more, and it is pretty disturbing. The main reason there are no differences in teachers from different certification routes is that very little is really known about how to best train teachers.

Imagine that - despite years of focus on education reform around the nation, the report indicates that credible research about what works in teacher preparation remains very thin. Basically, all those ed school types are being guided by hunches and guesses, not thoughtful research, because there isn’t much thoughtful research.

Read more »

What state spending problem?

This SNL clip was referenced from Hulu.

Louisville, why aren’t you playing ball?

School system shuns program that increases Advanced Placement course performance

One of the most exciting school reform efforts in our state is the ‘AdvanceKentucky’ program to place more, higher quality Advanced Placement (AP) courses in our public high schools.

But, a new list of the schools that will participate in this highly effective program in the coming school year highlights a notable problem - even after three expansions in participating schools, Louisville doesn’t have a single high school entered in the AdvanceKentucky ‘league.’

Read more »

NPR questions teacher tenure

NPR recently published an article on their website discussing the contentious, hotly debated issue of teacher tenure.  The article questions whether tenure is still viable method in the current education system and also sheds light on a nation wide movement to pay teachers based on performance rather than solely years of service.

Take a moment and read the article and you can learn more about how far less than 1% of teachers are fired in many of the larger districts across the country and the various movements associated with teacher tenure.

What are your thoughts on teacher tenure?

Education commissioner reported working hard on charter legislation

The Herald-Leader reports that Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday is working hard to get a proposal together for charter school legislation that will win more support from various education groups.

One thing is clear in this article. When it comes to education, you have to ask around to really find out what educators are thinking.

For example, Wilson Sears, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, told the newspaper that a recent poll of his organization’s members showed half were neutral on charters while the rest were evenly divided between opponents and supporters.

The article also quotes Sheldon Berman, the superintendent of the Jefferson County Public School District, saying, "I don't think there is a school superintendent in the state who is a champion for charter schools."

This might be mostly a semantics deal, but it seems like Dr. Berman is out of touch with the ‘supporter’ group of superintendents.

Berman became an outspoken foe of charter schools before he left Massachusetts to come to Kentucky, so he may not be the best choice for information about what others in Kentucky really are saying. Certainly, an alarming number of the most troubled schools in the state are found in his school district, especially in the high minority areas. So, it is time to try something else, like charter schools, that shows promise for disadvantaged students.

If not charters, then what?

Plug into nuclear power (part 2)

Out-of-touch state legislators should quit melting down about nuclear power and understand it's a safe way to keep energy costs low.

Click here to listen to the 90-second audio commentary.

Maybe more than rhetoric in possible spring session?

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has announced that he plans to call a special session later in spring to deal with the current lack of a budget.  In addition he is doing a of campaigning to discuss what life would be like without a state budget: a government shutdown.

Beshear recommended to lawmakers that they not raise taxes as well as not increase state debt.  This sounds like a desire to be accountable and fiscally responsible.  I can only hope that this rhetoric carries through to action in the special session.

Charter school legislation is also a possible topic of discussion for a special session making this a potentially interesting spring in Frankfort. Let's hope the state legislature can do it's constitutionally mandated job this time as we pay them more money since they couldn't get it done during the regular session.

Supreme Court, transparency and petitions

The Supreme Court is about to begin hearing arguments in an interesting case regarding government transparency and petitions.  At issue is whether the names on petitions are able to be obtained through open records requests.

You can read more here.

We would love to have your thoughts on the issue.  Let us know what you think!

Where Are The Jobs?

The Mercatus Center gives us a true picture of the state of our economy.

"Long-term unemployment has risen dramatically during the course of the recession – this increase is one of the most dramatic and important unemployment trends. In a healthy economy, we should expect to see a short duration of average unemployment. This signal indicates an economy where workers’ skills are transferrable and they are able to quickly move in and out of sectors of an economy in flux. During the 50 years from 1950 to 2000, this was the nature of unemployment in the United States, with an average of 12.4% of total unemployment lasting for periods less than or equal to 27 weeks.

Last month, over 44.1% of unemployed workers (over 6.5 million workers) had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. This is the highest relative level of long-term unemployment in the United States since the beginning of BLS records in 1948; at the start of 2008 only 18.3% of unemployed workers fell into this category. Importantly, these measures of unemployment exclude workers who desired employment but were, for various reasons, not included in BLS’s unemployment calculations – an estimated 5.8 million workers. When these workers are included in the overall totals of the unemployment, the relative percentage of long-term unemployed workers is certain to increase as well as the absolute number of unemployed.

This trend has continued unabated despite numerous jobs bills and policy interventions."

Quote of the day: True liberty, powerful prosperity

"True liberty, by protecting the exertions of talents and industry, and securing to them their justly acquired fruits tends more powerfully than any other cause to augment the mass of national wealth." --Alexander Hamilton

Why Kentucky needs charter schools: Minorities deserve a first-class education

The percentage of Louisville students in NCLB failing schools varies notably by race.

Your stimulus dollars 'at work' in Louisville

Remember how we were promised that stimulus dollars would be used to get people back to work on "shovel ready" projects within 60 days?

Well, it's been 14 months and Louisville's "just getting ready to do sidewalks," according to city Stimulus Czar Rick Johnstone.

While the city has received $458 million -- twice as much as expected -- there seems to be some question about whether taxpayers are getting anywhere close to an appropriate return on their "investment."

The Louisville Examiner's Thomas McAdam does the math: $458 million spent on 1,152 new jobs works out to "$397,569.44 per job created."

McAdam adds: Remember how we groused back in November that the City spent $31 million to create 562 jobs, at $55,160 per job? Come to think of it, that was something of a bargain after all.

See Louisville's stimulus "bargains" here.

Survey says...stimulus didn't help.

CNN recently reported on a survey of economists who said that the "stimulus" funding didn't promote job growth.

Is this really news?

You can't create jobs by taking money and giving it back.  It's pretty simple, really.

Why Kentucky needs charter schools: Thousands trapped in failing schools

Nearly 60 percent of all Louisville students attend schools that fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind.

Why Kentucky needs charter schools: KERA has failed too many students for too long

After two decades of KERA, federal testing shows that - at best - only one in three Kentucky students is proficient in reading and math.

Charter school in Chicago sending all its graduates on to college

All 107 seniors in Chicago’s all-male The Urban Prep Charter School are heading to college - four-year colleges.

One hundred percent!

Even the prestigious Louisville Male High School only graduated 98.7 percent according to its 2008-2009 School Report Card (Available from pull-down menus here). And, only 92.6 percent are going on to either two- or four-year colleges combined.

By the way, Male is a magnet school that accepts academically strong students through a competition.

Urban Prep uses a straight lottery to admit students. Any applicant has an equal chance of admittance.

Only four percent of Urban Prep’s seniors could read at grade level when they entered the school as freshmen. So much for claims that this school skims the cream.

There are more interesting comparisons. Urban Prep’s students are 82 percent low income. Based on data in Louisville Male’s School Report Card for 2009 reading, Male’s low-income rate is only 24.8 percent.

Certainly, Urban Prep’s ACT score average is much lower than Male’s, but this charter school still has something great going on if every one of its seniors got into a four-year college.

Don’t we need that sort of educational excitement in Kentucky?

(To learn more about Urban Prep, click here)

Why Kentucky needs charter schools: Public schools spend more, accomplish less

There has been a sharp increase in education funding in the Bluegrass State since KERA began yet little progress to show for it.

In 1990, the state achieved 5.10 NAEP proficiency points for each $1 billion it collected for education. By 2009, that efficiency rating had slipped to only 4.57 proficiency points per each $1 billion collected.

To achieve a 90 percent proficiency rate in math would cost well over three times the amount currently spent.

We must find better, more efficient ways to educate Kentucky's students. Charter schools, which frequently provide better academic results at significantly less cost than traditional public schools, is an idea whose time has come.

Teachers' union ruins Indiana’s hopes for Race to the Top dollars

Will the same thing happen in Kentucky?

The Courier-Journal reports that the Indiana Department of Education is cancelling its efforts to win Race to the Top Phase 2 dollars, citing a lack of cooperation from the state’s teachers union.

The apparent sticking point is a plan to include a teacher evaluation program as part of that state’s education reform agenda.

The article says Andy Smarick from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute says, “Other states are having big problems with their unions,” as well.

That could work to Kentucky’s advantage IF our teachers chose to take the high ground by getting on board for real changes that will ultimately work better for students and for the improvement of the profession of teaching, as well.

State government should 'bare' all to make the grade

The Beshear administration is doing a lot of crowing about a new report praising Kentucky state government for its transparency. But it's much ado about nothing.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon.

Principals in West Virginia are stepping down

I wrote yesterday about the ten schools Kentucky identified for the federal School Improvement Grant program and the fact that the principals in some of those schools will have to go.

It’s already starting in other states like West Virginia, according to the Charleston (WV) Gazette.

The question is, will it really happen here?

Why Kentucky needs charter schools: Many schools get free NCLB pass due to loopholes

In 2009, Jefferson County's busing plan destroyed No Child Left Behind accountability in at least 19 schools that were in Tier 1 or higher failure status in 2008.

These schools just got a free ride.

Federal School Improvement Grants for Kentucky

The US Department of Education announced yesterday that it is releasing $56 million to Kentucky as School Improvement Grants (SIG) to turn around some of the state’s lowest performing schools.

However, there is a catch. To get the money, some principals in Kentucky schools will have to be replaced.

The question is, will that really happen in this state which has a long record of protecting school staff in low performing schools?

Read more »

Why Kentucky needs charter schools: Many schools have become 'dropout factories'

Too many Lousiville high schools are "dropout factories" with graduation rates falling below 60 percent.

Race to the Top competition heats up

Kentucky's chances could be 'toast' without charter schools

We already pointed out that other states like Florida are taking a look at the Race to the Top (RTTT) Phase 1 awards and will up the ante considerably with their Phase 2 submissions.

Now, that is happening in more states like Colorado, Iowa and Michigan.

If Kentucky really wants a shot at Phase 2 RTTT funding, which could amount to as much as $175 million, it must get on board with a good charter school program.

That requires legislation, which Governor Beshear recently announced he is considering. The governor may include such a legislative request in his anticipated call for a special legislative session to adopt a new state budget.

Other groups join the Bluegrass Institute in promoting charter schools for Kentucky

It's great to see new groups forming and joining the Bluegrass Institute's quest for school choice.

One of those is Parents for Improving Kentucky Education (PIKE). PIKE member Lauren Morgan notes in a recent Lexington Herald-Leader op-ed:

"... the true promise of charter schools is realized when they are generally free from many of the state and local regulations that stifle the innovation and creativity of teachers and administrators."

The Bluegrass Institute welcomes all Kentucky parents to join this collaborative effort to bring school choice to Kentucky.

Charter schools: Teachers unions can't drown out Washington's cash registers

Wave $175 million in front of politicians and labor bosses at the Kentucky teachers unions and you're liable to end up with charter schools.

Nothing -- not even the powerful teachers unions -- can drown out Washington's cash registers. Amazing, isn't it?

Quote of the day: Healthy fear

"When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Plug into nuclear power (part 1)

Despite fearmongering by environmental extremists, nuclear power is safe and cheap.

Click here to listen to the 90-second audio commentary.

Why Kentucky needs charter schools: More and more schools fail our neediest students

In 2009, sharp increases occurred in Kentucky schools that failed key student groups.

Selective report memory?

We’ve written plenty about charter schools, including coverage of recent reports about the superior performance of charter schools in New York City and Boston.

But, at least one public school education type isn’t reading us.

Check out this new opinion piece in the Herald-Leader from Jefferson County Public Schools' Robert Rodosky.

Rodosky should do wider reading including things like this first before sounding off about reports from groups like Stanford’s CREDO that have run into credibility problems of their own.

Right now, the CREDO crowd is scrambling to recover credibility after their EARLIER report, the one Rodosky cites, wound up in conflict with their NEWER report on New York City Charters.

That newer CREDO report shows the same thing that a researcher Rodosky criticizes does: charter schools in the Big Apple outperform.

Someone tell Rodosky.

Corbin-Knox School Choice Fight Going to Courts

The school choice fight between the Knox County Public School District and the Corbin Independent School District is going to the next level. The Corbin Board of Education just voted to sue to preserve school choice between the two school districts.

It's going to get interesting, now.

Bluegrass Institute staff member on WKCT

Jim Waters will be on News/Talk 93 WKCT-Drive Time today at 5pm to discuss charter schools. Listen in at http://www.network1sports.com/stations/wkct.asp

Why Kentucky needs charter schools: Most public school graduates not ready for college

Only small percentages of Kentucky public high school graduates are ready for college. In 2009, the ACT indicated just 13 percent of Kentucky graduates are fully prepared for a liberal college education.

Quote of the Day: Is public education 'entitled' to our children?

"As a product of public schools and a public school parent, I believe in the value of a public education. But while every child is entitled to a public education, public education is not entitled to every child." -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry

Knox-Corbin School Choice Update

State Board weighs in: Siblings can follow to either school system

We’ve been covering the school choice fight between the Knox County Public Schools and the Corbin Independent School District for some time such as here, here and here.

Now, the latest development comes from the past week’s meeting of the Kentucky Board of Education. The board expanded the Commissioner of Education’s ruling that school choice would continue next year for students who already were using it.

Now, the board says that siblings of students using school choice in Knox and Corbin can also go to the school their parents choose regardless of the location of their homes.

Entrepreneurs discussing what they do best...

How ironic: School formed by Obama advisor closed

Radical education ideas didn’t translate into better education

Charter schools provided the evidence

During the past presidential campaign, now President Obama relied on Stanford school of education guru Linda Darling-Hammond as his advisor on education matters. Ms. Darling-Hammond has been at the forefront of radical education reform for many years.

Among other things, Ms. Darling-Hammond was instrumental in forming the Stanford New School, a California charter that would showcase all the thinking from the Stanford School of Education.

Many educators thought that, surely, this would be a winner of a school.

It has not turned out that way.

Now, due to low student performance, Education News reports that the Stanford New School’s charter will not be renewed.

While this clearly shows that radical education ideas, many still favored by some educators here in Kentucky, don’t pan out well, it does not show that the charter school concept is wrong. Far from it!

In fact, this is a great example that charter schools can provide compelling information on what does, and does not, work in real practice. All those Stanford School of Ed theories just collided with reality, and we get to benefit from the knowledge precisely because California does have charter schools where such practical examples can be worked out.

Busted and 'disgusted'

Once again, the Kentucky General Assembly failed in its constitutional duty of passing a balanced budget within the allotted 60-day legislative session.

In other words, lawmakers failed to do their job -- especially the House leadership which held the budget process hostage in an attempt to increase the state's bonded indebtedness by $1.2 billion. Kudos to the state Senate for refusing to go along with such a plan considering we're in a lingering recession with high unemployment rates (10.7 percent at latest count).

It was almost comical watching Gov. Steve Beshear talk about how he is "disgusted" that the Legislature didn't do its job.

What about Beshear's failure to propose a balanced budget in good faith by including $780 million in gambling revenue when there was no possibility that the legislature was going to expand gambling or that the revenue would be immediately available for politicians to do what they enjoy the most -- spending someone else's (you taxpayers') hard-earned money?

Voters should be "disgusted" about the governor's shenanigans, too.

2010 Open Records Project

Last year, The Bluegrass Institute's FreedomKentucky.org conducted a vast number of open records requests as part of a transparency campaign.  The focus was primarily on school districts and cities and obtaining their budgets and check book registers.  You can view the results of that effort here.

Now we want your input!

Drop us a line, either by email or as a comment here, and let us know what information you're interested in obtaining through open records requests.  Transparency is the first step toward accountability and the Kentucky Open Records Act is one of the best transparency tools we have available to us.

Are you interested in...

• School district check regisiters?
• Travel expenses?
• The purpose and progress of various task forces?
• The public pension system?

Remember, it's your government. Let's find out what is really happening!  Give us your input!

What does your government look like?

Take action now!

Watchdog group releases pork spending book

Citizens Against Government Waste has released it's 2010 "Pig Book", a study on pork spending projects in Congress. Here, you can view a sortable database of the projects as well as download the .pdf of the booklet. Also available are the archives of previous pig books.

Take a look! See what Congress is doing!

Be sure to check out FreedomKentucky's spending database, too!

Why politicians bash health insurers

Bashing health insurance companies has become all the rage these days.

The Obama administration, congressional leaders and their allies in activist groups and the press have based their health care propaganda on poll numbers indicating that "voters generally like medical providers and generally don't like health insurers," writes John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation in his latest Carolina Journal commentary.

While he doesn't portray insurers as some kind of saints, Hood does offer a point rarely considered in mainstream media discussions of health care policy:

"The existing health insurance industry is not itself a creation of free markets coordinating individual decisions and enterprises. It is the creation of government interference in the market."

Hood makes the case here for how such intrusion has distorted the market, leading to practices that increase costs.

Hood concludes: Since such consumer-driven health care is growing, "Americans may change their perception of health insurers, too. That's one reason the Left must destroy consumer-driven health care and impose government-run health care soon, before it runs out of villains to bash."

Kentucky Attorney General: Parents have right to see all school records on their child

Even e-mails

In a win for more transparency from our schools, the Kentucky Attorney General ruled today that schools have no right to withhold any information on a student from the parents.

Read the details here.

LFUCG iPhone application suggestions

Recently the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government release it's iPhone app to the citizenry.  It allows the user to report abandoned vehicles, illegal activity, animal control issues, illegal dumping, etc...  In addition, a user can submit photos and use a GPS like function to pinpoint the exact location of the "incident".

I like this. It shows an effort by Lexington leadership to step into the current times and use the web to cut costs and reduce work loads.  This is only scratching the surface of how Lexington could better utilize technology to cut costs through materials and labor.

As neat as this phone application is, there are a couple categories I'd like to see added to what is able to be reported.

1. Taxpayer money waste: how about an option to report your tax money being wasted!
2. Gov't Accountability: how about an option to submit pictures of government buildings that aren't up to code?
3. Responsible government: I think it is imperative that we recognize when the government is acting responsibly. The ability to submit a photo when we see that happening would allow the citizens of Lexington to respond to their representatives and show them what we are pleased with in the city.

Let our leaders know what we want!

Unions provide 'anchor' leg in 'Race to the Top'

Kentucky’s teachers unions played “political chicken” and lost.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon column.

Confusion abounds in school district getting RTTT-based audit

The Glasgow Daily Times reports that there is considerable confusion in the Caverna school district about the recently conducted audit there. No one seems to know if the state will really enforce new rules about schools that get such audits or not.

These audits, by the way, were based on the new rules for school accountability that Kentucky enacted as part of its Race to the Top application. However, the audits are not for Race to the Top purposes, but for a closely related federal pot of money called School Improvement Grants. Schools can’t get the grants, which are for three years at a hefty $500,000 per year, unless they get an audit, first.

Anyway, confusion continues. We have already questioned why Caverna High School, which is far from the bottom-performing high school in Kentucky, is even in the list of audit schools. As we point out, it isn’t hard to find schools that need such attention far more than Caverna.

In fact, confusion seems to have been a hallmark of this program ever since word of it leaked out in mid-March.

It would be nice if the Kentucky Department of Education would put out a news release with the full, accurate story.

Florida passes teacher merit pay bill

One state that is really getting set for the second round of the Race to the Top (RTTT) competition is Florida.

Their legislature just passed a bill that implements teacher merit pay and a teacher accountability system where student performance counts.

Understandably, the bill is controversial (the Florida teachers’ union, of course, is incensed), and the governor has yet to sign it.

However, the fact that Florida’s legislature has been successful in passing such legislation serves as a reminder that Kentucky is likely to face some stiff competition in RTTT Phase 2. Our odds of winning will be seriously lowered if we don’t get a decent charter school program in our package.

By the way, Florida’s performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress Reading Assessment puts Kentucky to shame.

Consider the NAEP reading performance between 1998 (when NAEP started to report scores that included students getting testing accommodations) and 2009 for all the states that participated in all the assessments given during this time frame.

Florida’s rate of progress in both fourth and eighth grade ranks number one for both grade levels. Florida scored well behind Kentucky in 1998, but now they tie us at both grade levels. And, Florida has a large minority population and four times the proportion of English language learners found in Kentucky, as well. Given its many disadvantages, the fact that Florida raised performance and now ties us is a miracle - for Florida.

More on Indy trip for lawmakers

Phil Moffett, a member of the board of directors of the Bluegrass Institute , is sponsoring a trip to Indianapolis for legislators to visit a charter school.

Click here to read the Herald-Leader article.

Kentucky lawmakers invited to visit charter school

Kentucky lawmakers are being invited to see public charter schools in action.

Rep. Brad Montell, R-Shelbyville, recently sent a letter to all state legislators inviting them to tour a public charter school in Indianapolis on Tuesday, the day before the state House can consider charter-school legislation already approved by the Senate.

Click here to read the rest of the news release.

Kentucky prognosticators miss predicting own demise?

Kentucky Long Term Policy Research Center on the fiscal chopping block?

In a move raising eyebrows around the state, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports the Kentucky Long Term Policy Research Center (KLTPRC) may get the total ‘axe’ in the pending budget.

This 17-year old unit would be closed on June 30th along with a savings of $560,000 under language just inserted into the working budget document.

Michael Childress, the center’s executive director is expressing surprise and says there has been no explanation for the sudden shutdown. He says no one has told him if this is due to someone being upset about past reporting from the KLTPRC.

Childress’ comments are echoed by Senate budget chairman Bob Leeper. Leeper told the Herald-Leader that this cut comes simply because money is tight and the KLTPRC does not seem to be a necessity.

We at the Bluegrass Institute are as surprised as everyone else by the announcement.

We had no part in the current budget action.

However, it is no secret that we criticized two KLTPRC papers on Kentucky’s educational performance. We pointed out that in general the data comparisons in those papers were problematic, while two of the data comparisons were totally inappropriate.

Read more »

Commish repeats: No charter schools, No Race to the Top education money

Union could care less

The details are in this Herald-Leader article.

It’s sad that Kentucky’s teachers union is more interested in keeping charters out - even though the union's precious contracts would be protected by the current legislative proposal - than in helping cash-strapped Kentucky compete for a possible $175 million grant.

Richard Innes talks education on Ky. GrassRoots radio

Education analyst Richard Innes educates 'KentuckyGrassRoots' listeners on KERA, school choice and what's really happening in the commonwealth's public schools.

Click here to listen to the radio show.

Join us at the Owensboro Tea Party this Saturday

Join the Bluegrass Institute at the Owensboro Tea Party this Saturday. Jim Waters, director of policy and communications, will speak at the event being held from Noon to 2 p.m. at Owensboro City Hall, 101 E. Fourth St.

KERA at 20: The drop in Kentucky’s education bang for the buck with ACT

I’ve been blogging about some of the statistics in Kentucky since KERA was enacted.

I started with a discussion of the huge increase in education revenue that resulted from KERA-induced higher taxes.

I then noted how we are getting less ‘Bang for the Buck’ today in the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ eighth grade mathematics exams than we did in 1990.

Today, let’s look at how Kentucky’s ACT Composite Scores from this well-known college entrance test compare to the education revenue collected when KERA was starting versus today.


As you can see, there was a very notable decline in the efficiency of our dollars in producing better ACT scores over time.

By the way, I know that someone is going to point out that not as many students took the ACT in 1990 as in 2008. They will claim that could impact the data in the graph. It could, a little, However, you might be surprised to learn that the difference in the proportion of Kentucky public school graduates taking the ACT over this time really isn’t that great.

I estimate in 1990 that 57.6 percent of Kentucky’s public school graduates took the ACT, while in 2008 the exact percentage (not an estimate) was 64.2 percent, which is not that much higher (Learn how I made this estimation by clicking the “Read more” link below). This relatively small change isn’t likely to be an adequate explanation for the very sharp efficiency drop shown in the graph.

The bottom line here is that just as happened with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, we have to spend a lot more today for each point of performance on the ACT Composite Score our kids get. That isn’t efficient.

Read more »

Quote of the day

“The one thing that we can be sure of is that a continued assault on poker and attempts to restrict the rights of Commonwealth residents to play online poker is a clear waste of state government's scarce resources.” -- John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance

A TEA party will do citizens good

Jim Waters, director of policy and communications, will be speaking at tea parties in Owensboro (this Saturday, April 10), Madisonville and Paducah (both on Thursday, April 15). Please come out and show your support for lower taxes, limited government, state sovereignty and individual liberty.

Owensboro Tea Party: City Hall, 101 E 4th St. from 12 noon-2 p.m. Saturday, April 10

Madisonville Tea Party: At the corner of N Main St and West Arch St across from the Government Center beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 15

Paducah Tea Party-- 'Let's Rally for America': At the Dolly McNutt Plaza beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15

Health care lawsuit request: Conway does more than disagree

Attorney General Jack Conway calls a letter signed by 35 Kentucky lawmakers asking him to join 14 other Attorneys General in a lawsuit to protect Kentuckians from the unconstitutional federal health care policy 'a political stunt.'

Click here to listen to the 90-second audio commentary.

Kentucky American Water and LFUCG at odds...again

This week the LFUCG is considering a proposal to require Kentucky American Water to appear before the council and explain a price increase upwards of 30%.  That's pretty steep.  The council is allegedly doing this to protect the local Lexington customers.

Here's a suggestion, LFUCG: If you are really concerned about the amount of money citizens are spending on utilities, why don't you cut the taxes you impose on those same utilities.  I would rather pay money to a private business to improve the product I am purchasing rather than fork over money to a local government that has nothing to do with that product.

It seems a bit disingenuous to talk about preserving utility costs while at the same time increasing taxes on those same utilities.

Luck of the Irish needed for this policy in Kentucky

We hear a lot from state officials about budget deficits. Their solution usually revolves around either extracting more hard-earned taxpayers' dollars, taking the commonwealth deeper in debt or some combination of both.


The House budget this year floated the idea of an additional $2 billion in bonded indebtedness to build roads, repair schools and shore up other infrastructure projects. The Senate did not drink that potion, leading to the current budget impasse in Frankfort.


But how about interjecting some new cost-cutting ideas into our budget process? For example, instead of raising taxes or increasing debt, Ireland provides a much better idea: Reducing government salaries by as much as 15 percent.

Read more about it here.

While a few of Kentucky's visible politicians -- top state leaders who happen to be running for higher office -- have indicated they will accept a 10 percent pay cut, it would be more than a political stunt if such cuts were made all the way throughout government. It could actually help get government spending back under control.


But it would take the luck of the Irish to implement such a policy throughout the entrenched network of state workers -- Kentucky's largest voting bloc.

KERA at 20: The drop in Kentucky’s education bang for the buck with NAEP

I blogged yesterday on the notable increase in total education revenue in Kentucky since KERA was enacted in 1990. Today, let’s apply some of that information to the National Assessment of Educational Progress eighth grade mathematics proficiency rates for Kentucky in 1990 and 2009. The proficiency rate is the percentage of students who scored at or above the NAEP “Proficient” level, as published in the 2009 NAEP Mathematics Report Card.

This graph shows what I found. Back in 1990, the state achieved 5.10 NAEP proficiency points for each $1 billion it collected from all sources, local, state and federal, for education. By 2009, that efficiency rating had slipped to only 4.57 proficiency points per each $1 billion collected.

In other words, over time our schools have become less efficient.


Let’s take the 2009 efficiency figure of 4.57 NAEP proficiency points per each $1 billion in education revenue a bit further.

Assuming we don’t lose any more efficiency (a very unlikely assumption), how much would we have to spend in current, 2009 dollars to get up to a mathematics proficiency rate of 90 percent?

To calculate that, divide 90 proficiency points by the 4.57 proficiency points per $1 billion of total revenue to learn we would need to collect $19.69 billion to fund such performance.

In other words, to get a 90 percent proficiency rate in math would cost well over three times the amount we currently spend - IF we stay with our current education model.

Clearly, we have to break our current education trend.

We must find much more efficient ways to educate students in Kentucky’s schools. Our current system cannot get us anywhere close to where we want to go at any sort of cost that we can afford.

Really innovative uses of technology could offer one way to improve efficiency, though so far the existing education establishment hasn’t seemed to be able to really harness technology very effectively.

Another part of the answer could be charter schools. Among other things, these new model public schools tend to be more efficient than regular public schools.

Read more »

Free Market Lesson: iPad versus oPad

Inefficiency adds up.

It's that time of year: tax time. I'm a bit old fashioned in that I like to actually mail in a physical copy of my return.  I sat down to finalize my forms yesterday when I noticed something interesting about the Kentucky state forms versus the federal form.

As I was getting ready to mail my federal form, there were two stickers that had the mailing address of where I'd be sending my forms. One sticker was for those enclosing a payment the other for those filing for a refund.

The Kentucky return book came with two large envelopes; one for returns and one for payments. Now, this may seem a bit silly however, I find it to be a perfect example inefficiency.

Now, I'm not in the office supply business but I am willing to bet that it is much less expensive to send citizens one small envelope with a couple stickers than it is to include two large envelopes, one of which is bound to find it's way to the trash can. The inefficiencies add up and the taxpayers are the ones who are footing the bill.

Governor Beshear asked for state workers to submit ideas on how the state can save money and many of them contributed commonsense, simple ideas that combined would save the state a lot of money. Not sure if these were taken into consideration but you can view those suggestions here.

KERA at 20: The Increase in Cost

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. I thought you might be interested in the sharp increase in education funding we have experienced in the Bluegrass State since KERA began.


In uncorrected dollars, our most recently reported school finance figure for the 2008-2009 school term was 302 percent higher than the amount collected back in the year KERA was enacted.

In inflation-adjusted dollars, we still are spending 82 percent more today in real dollars than we were in 1990.

That’s the “BUCKS” part of the equation.

By any measure, this is a huge increase in real funding.

Here’s one interesting question: where is all that extra money going? Have our teachers seen a 302 percent increase in their paychecks since KERA began?

If I get some time, we’ll look at some of the “BANG,” which may be mostly just a little “pop,” at best, that we got for all that cash in future blogs.

Read more »

Reminder: Bluegrass Institute’s Richard Innes is on KY Grassroots Radio Today

Talk will center on KERA after 20 years

The Bluegrass Institute’s education analyst, Richard Innes, talks about Kentucky education tonight with KY Grassroots Radio host Matt Singleton.

Showtime is 6:30 EDT, and the Innes interview should start about 10 minutes into the program.

Log on to the action here.

Be sure to turn your computer audio up.

You can find charts and tables with some of the data Innes will refer to in this PDF document.

Suggestion: After you log on to the audio program, minimize that window and open another web page with the address for the Talking Paper.

A citizen's take on energy.

Jim Waters of the Bluegrass Institute interviews Jim Dugan at the capital in Frankfort, Kentucky, and gets a citizen's take on energy in the Bluegrass and United States.

Monday Links!

Some links for you to check out on this fine spring day!

• The Cato Institute discusses whether the recent healthcare legislation is constitutional.
• Citizens for Government Accountability have released there latest newsletter!  Check it out
• The Lexington Herald-Leader takes a look at senate candidates traveling on taxpayer money.
• FreedomKentucky.org has a new Google search function that should make finding the information you need a lot easier.  

Standards Kentucky signed on to may not be so hot

Those new national standards that Kentucky made so much noise about adopting last month don’t measure up to standards in the most demanding states according to a new report from a coalition of think tanks from California and Massachusetts.

A new paper from the the San Francisco- and Sacramento-based Pacific Research Institute and the Pioneer Institute in Massachusetts gives the new Common Core Standards for math a “B-” and the English language arts standard only a “C-.”

Read the press release here. It has a link to the report.

Bluegrass Institute’s Richard Innes appears on KY Grassroots Radio Monday

Topic: “KERA at 20: What Happened to Kentucky Education Over the Past Two Decades”

The Bluegrass Institute’s education analyst, Richard Innes, talks about Kentucky education this coming Monday evening with KY Grassroots Radio host Matt Singleton.

Showtime is 6:30 EDT, and the Innes interview should start about 10 minutes into the program.

Log on to the action here on Monday, April 5, 2010.

Be sure to turn your computer audio up.

Give power to the people with nuclear energy option

The Senate recently passed legislation lifting the moratorium on nuclear power plants in Kentucky. However, House leaders “nuked” the idea.

Click here to read the latest edition of the Bluegrass Beacon.

Stated purpose of charter schools' legislation

Good words from the charter school amendment that passed the Kentucky Senate by a single vote yesterday:

(2) Charter schools shall:
(a) Focus on closing achievement gaps between high-performing and low-performing groups of public school students by expanding learning experiences for students who are identified as academically low-achieving;
(b) Increase pupil learning through the implementation of high, rigorous standards for pupil performance;
(c) Provide parents and students with expanded choices in the types of education opportunities that are available within the public school system; and
(d) Be allowed freedom and flexibility in exchange for exceptional levels of results-driven accountability.

But will the teachers unions go along with it? Will implemented policy actually give these goals a chance? Will it matter to kids trapped in failing schools?

By opposing even this weak attempt at implementing charter schools in Kentucky, the unions have already indicated that they oppose any attempt to hold teachers, students and school systems accountable.

Charter school bill gets Easter resurrection

In a move surprising many Frankfort watchers, the Kentucky Senate’s Education Committee and then the full Senate quickly approved an omnibus bill yesterday, The Senate Committee Substitution for House Bill 109, that now includes language to establish charter schools in Kentucky.

We are still reviewing the bill, but comments from Commissioner Terry Holliday made during the committee hearing yesterday indicate that while HB-109/SCS will definitely make some changes in the long-running way that KERA has impacted school governance in Kentucky, this bill will not create a strong charter school program.