Kentucky’s high school graduation rate is declining!!!!

The new Digest of Education Statistics 2010 recently released, and there is sobering news for Kentucky in Table 112.

The latest Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR) for Kentucky sank again for the second year in a row (click on graph to enlarge).


Based on this latest available data from the feds, Kentucky’s AFGR slipped back below the national average rate for the first time since 2004-05.

As a note, the ‘official’ 2007-08 high school graduation rate reported by the Kentucky Department of Education was 84.52 percent, over 10 points higher than the 74.4 percent rate the feds say we really had.

Read more »

EPA now using a 'strangulation by regulation' approach

Having failed to get its radical anti-fossil fuels agenda passed through legislative means, the EPA is using regulation to bypass the will of the people and enact -- and enforce -- measures that will bring great harm to Kentucky's coal industry and its economy.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon.

Quote of the day: Mediocre education

"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves." --"A Nation at Risk"

Keynes and Hayek, second round

My recent economics professor Russ Roberts and producer John Papola are back with a new Keynes versus Hayek rap video. In basically every particular, I have to say that I prefer this one to their first effort. Take a look.



You can see their first effort here. If you haven't read much Hayek, a good place to start is "The Use of Knowledge in Society" and the free Reader's Digest condensed edition of The Road to Serfdom.

Unfunded & unsustainable: Ky's bloated public pension system

The Pew Center for the States has just released its annual snapshot on state pension and retiree health-care funding. It's not a pretty picture, especially for the Bluegrass State.

In his analysis of the numbers,David Cox, editorial page editor of the Paducah Sun (subscription required), noted today that not only does Kentucky have one of the highest percentages of unfunded employee retirement obligations in the nation, but that even a strong economic recovery isn't likely to solve the problem.

The problem: For every dollar Kentucky has obligated itself to pay retired state employees for pensions and health insurance, the commonwealth has set aside only 58 cents. Only Illinois (51 cents) and West Virginia (56 cents) are in worse shape.

How we got here: Kentucky's low ranking is "due in part to the state's high ration of state employees to population," Cox writes.

There are now 38 state employees for every 1,000 workers in the commonwealth.

Unacceptable excuses: Bureaucrats like to use "the recession excuse." Yet, as Cox notes, while the stock market decline diminished the value of pension funds, "the stock market has rebounded while the unfunded pension liability has continued to grow."

Besides, as Pew Center director Susan K. Urahn noted, "the states dug themselves a big hole before the recession ever hit." The recession simply made "a serious problem even worse," Urahn said.

Kentucky's pension system's unfunded liability has reached $34 billion, according to Lowell Reese, editor and publisher of Kentucky Roll Call and an expert on the state pension system,

The way out?: Cox suggests the commonwealth could start the long trek back toward being able to match their obligations by "scaling back on promises to new employees."

Quote of the day

"Liberty and limited government were not invented in 1776; the were reaffirmed and strengthened."

-Cato Handbook for Policymakers (7th Edition)

Bluegrass Beacon archive on FreedomKentucky

The Bluegrass Institute recently started archiving its syndicated column on FreedomKentucky.org.

You can find the archive here!

Archiving these articles on our transparency database allows us to easily link you to more information about subjects you may be reading about in the column.  Take a few moments and check it out!

UK trustees to taxpayers: You may pay the bills, but we do our business in secret

Today's Lexington Herald-Leader reported that a former U.S.-Senator-from-Ohio wannabe Eric Fingerhut is a candidate for the post of chief politician, I'm sorry -- "president" -- of the University of Kentucky.

Who are the other candidates? We, the taxpayers, don't know -- even though we, the taxpayers, are paying the high salaries of these university presidents, both in terms of funding from the state and tuition increases that are three times the rate of inflation.

The reason we don't know is because the interviews are being conducted in secret --"at a Northern Kentucky hotel in a black-draped room in an area patrolled by security," according to today's Herald-Leader.

Why? It's always the same kind of mumbo jumbo from uninteresting and predictable officials: If we don't do this in secret, we will "drive away highly qualified candidates who fear losing their jobs and political clout."

Apparently way down on the list is what's in the best interest of students, the university itself and the citizens who pay the bills.

Of course, this defense of a lack of transparency carries over to other areas of state policy as well.

We, the taxpayers, are told that we cannot be privy to economic development discussions involving potential bribes, I'm sorry -- "incentives" -- funded by we, the taxpayers, because it's a competitive process and too much information might cause Kentucky to lose its attractiveness to some company that's going to bring 10 jobs at $9 an hour.

Gee, what if we were as concerned about policies that have proven the equivalent of placing "Do Not Call" signs at the commonwealth's borders as we are keeping information from those who pay the bills? If we were, we would already have right-to-work, school choice and lower taxes.

In a recent Bluegrass Beacon column, I wrote on the state budget process being conducted "behind closed doors — complete with armed guards and covered windows."

Does anyone see a pattern here?

Quote of the day: Apply this observation to Kentucky's public education system

"If I had 25 percent of my products fail, I'd be out of business." --Louis Gerstner said this during his recent tenure as the CEO of IBM.

Just another example of why health care costs are skyrocketing

Here's a perfect example of why both health care costs are skyrocketing, and why Kentucky needs medical malpractice reforms.

This couple originally sought more than $13 million from these Bowling Green ob-gyns.

No wonder almost 60 percent of Kentucky’s in-state medical school graduates choose to leave the state to establish their clinical practices after graduation.

Why have an increasing number of Kentucky hospitals, including Knox County Hospital in Barbourville and Ashland's Bellefonte Hospital, closed their obstetrics departments in recent years? It's the uncertainty created by a lack of monetary caps in lawsuits. That uncertainty leads to outrageously high medical liability insurance rates.

Markets, including health-care markets, thrive when rules are clear and policies create certainty. Uncertainty leads to unhealthy results.

The future of 'absurd' Obamacare machine

Getting rid of Obamacare's unconstitutional individual mandate will, essentially, be the end of the entire misguided health care policy.

"The individual mandate is crucial: if you knock it out, the whole Rube Goldberg machine ... simply ceases to function," said Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, in the latest edition of Cato's Letter (not yet online).

While Kentucky's elected officials have refused to push back against this assault from Washington on our individual liberties, others, like Shapiro and the attorneys general from several states, have been warning that allowing Obamacare to stand will result in an unprecedented -- and unconstitutional -- foray of government into our personal lives.

"Upholding the legislation would allow the federal government to mandate that Americans engage in assorted activities, turning citizens into subjects," Shapiro said. "Without exaggeration, nobody would be able to claim the Constitution limits federal power."

Ultimately, the matter will be decided by the Supreme Court, which -- if history is any indication -- will do what our state should already have done: throw out the absurd policy. Of course, as Shapiro notes, that's not a certainty.

"On the one hand, it refrained from striking down such facially unconstitutional pieces of fundamental legislation as Social Security," he observes. "On the other, that legislation was unpopular and came during a time of great social upheaval.

But Shapiro ends on this positive note:

"If, as the old saw goes, 'the Court follows the election returns,' the rise of the Tea parties ... may have steeled judicial spines."

By the way, one description of a Rube Goldberg machine described it as "an expression to describe any system that's confusing or complicated and came about from Goldberg's illustrations of absurd machines."

Confusing. Complicated. Most of all, absurd. That certainly describes Obamacare and Kentucky officials' refusal to vigorously oppose it.

Courier’s opinions on ‘Fixing schools’ uninformed

A recent Courier-Journal editorial warrants an informed challenge. Putting it politely, the editor is seriously uninformed.

The major thrust of the editorial is that Jefferson County Public Schools are getting too much sniping from Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday and his staff. Per the Courier, the local school folk in Jefferson County are all great souls, all interested in doing the right thing for kids.

The editorial claims:

“There is no evidence at all that any party dealing with the problem of low-achieving schools in Jefferson County — JCPS, state or union — is exhibiting ‘no regard’ for students.”

Please!

Fact: In December, 2010, the Kentucky Office of Education Accountability (OEA) reported to the Kentucky Legislature’s Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee that the Jefferson County Teachers Association and the Jefferson County School District entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on how restaffing in the district’s Persistently Low-Achieving Schools would be conducted.

However, the OEA says on page 40 of its report “Analysis of Collective Bargaining Agreements in Kentucky Districts” (read the draft version approved by the EAARS in December – the final has not been posted):

“While the statute clearly stipulates that ‘professionally negotiated contracts by a local board of education shall not take precedence over the requirements’ associated with the option selected, JCPS and JCTA entered into an MOA as to how the restaffing would take place.”

Basically, OEA says the MOA violated provisions in House Bill 176 from the 2010 Regular Legislative Session. That legislation created implemented the accountability program that led to the identification of the Persistently Low-Achieving Schools.

The OEA report also identifies a high level of inexperience in the teaching staff following restaffing in the Persistently Low-Achieving Schools. That was not the intention under HB-176.

The OEA report further says:

“As recognized in the Greater Louisville Education Report, ‘staffing provisions in the teacher union‘s contract need to be altered to insure the distribution of quality teachers can be more equitably spread across high and low risk schools’ (p. 7). Since this report was published in 2009, it appears little progress has been made to address the distribution of teachers in the district. JCPS‘ draft version of the 2011 Comprehensive District Improvement Plan does not include any policies or programs related to teacher distribution or transfer provisions.”

Imagine that! Louisville’s own education report called for staffing changes two years ago, yet the union continues resisting these badly needed improvements over two years later. How is that in the interests of students?

So, it is clear the Courier’s editor is far off base in claiming there is no evidence that parties in Louisville are not interested in students. When obviously needed changes go unmade for years, and laws apparently are being violated in the process, it looks like the education crowd in Louisville – not Kentucky’s education commissioner – is the problem.

And, the commissioner is right on target in getting firmer about the chronic lack of progress in Kentucky’s largest school system.

And, maybe, the education challenges in Louisville extend to the editor at the Courier, who apparently didn’t do his or her homework with the OEA report, or even his hometown created Greater Louisville report, either. As long as the editor runs cover for those who stand in the way of kids getting the experienced teachers they need, he becomes part of the problem, too.

Quote of the day: Minorities and majorities

"It is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in the end learns to do better." --F.A. Hayek

How ObamaCare reduces incentives to work

"We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it." -House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, March 2010

These infamous words take on a new meaning as we continue to discover more implications of the 2,800 page health care reform law, commonly referred to as ObamaCare.

Today in The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Kessler writes how ObamaCare impacts yet another part of our lives: it actually "punishes work." How?

Kessler points to the government-funded subsidies designed to Americans purchase health care coverage. With the onset of government-run health care exchanges in 2014, the cost of coverage will grow so much that government will offer subsidies to help citizens buy insurance. However, as incomes rise for individuals and families, the amount of their government subsidies will decrease. Kessler explains the damaging impact of such a sliding scale:

"Consider a wife in a family with $90,000 in income. If she were to earn an additional $3,700, her family would lose the insurance subsidy and be more than $10,000 poorer. In addition, she would also pay more in income and Social Security taxes. Taken together, these policies impose a substantial punishment on work effort."

In effect, the law will punish those who earn more. As the example above shows, families and individuals will all too often be incentivized to remain in lower income brackets to qualify for higher government insurance subsidies.

Kessler closes with this poignant question:

"For middle-income families, should economic success be determined by work and savings, or by participation in a government program?"

Is this what Congress was hoping to find when they passed the law?

Finally telling it right

Our high schools are not preparing kids for college and careers

It was a remarkably candid admission from Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday.

The Central Kentucky News-Journal reports:



“Holliday said Kentucky's education system sells a false promise to students that if they graduate high school they are ready for college or a career. The reality is, he said, that many of those graduates are not.”




Basically, that’s exactly what the Bluegrass Institute has been pointing out since we opened shop in 2003. It’s nice to have at least one state official honest enough to admit to this obvious truth.

Holliday also pointed out that the state’s new assessment and accountability system, which will launch in the next school term, aims to change this unsatisfactory situation. I hope his aim is right on target.

Indiana’s frustration with slow school improvement may lead to private school vouchers

WAVE-3 reports that Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is one step closer to the enactment of the nation’s most aggressive school voucher law. This law would allow parents to use part of the public school money to send their child to a private school, instead.

Ebony James, an Indiana mom, says the change can’t come soon enough. She is frustrated by slow progress of improvement in the public school system, saying, "We've been improving for how many years now?”

James’ frustration is interesting. Whites in Indiana outscored Kentucky by a statistically significant amount in the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Grade 8 math assessments. Indiana’s poor whites also outscored our poor whites on that same math assessment.

In fourth grade reading in 2009 – one of Kentucky’s strongest areas in the NAEP – Indiana’s whites and blacks had scores that were not statistically significantly different from whites and blacks in Kentucky, respectively.

Thus, while our state wallows along, content with the slow improvement in our schools, at least one parent in Indiana and the Indiana State Senate say similar or better progress to that in Kentucky is not enough. It’s time to do something radically different.

Sadly, while Indiana moves forward to give parents more choices in schools, here in Kentucky we don’t even have public charter schools, let alone vouchers, as a parent and student school choice option. Instead, Kentucky’s public school system seems to be run more to protect the jobs of adults in it rather than to meet the needs of the students.

And, adults working in those public school adults seem to be doing everything they can to keep the system running in exactly that same old way.

Lawmakers get credit — for bad credit ratings

Government may not be a business. But ''when government operates like a successful company, it works a whole lot better -- and costs a whole lot less,'' writes Jim Waters in his latest Bluegrass Beacon column.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon.

Taking liberty to the airwaves: BIPPS on WLLV

Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, will be guest-hosting with Pastor Jerry Stephenson on WLLV 1240 AM in Louisville April 22, 2011.

Waters can be heard on The Values Coalition radio show, which airs from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. each Friday on WLLV-AM 1240.

Government not the only state entity with a spending problem

The Family Foundation of Kentucky is calling for both a moratorium on -- and an investigation by the attorney general of -- rising tuition prices at Kentucky's public universities.

A study by the foundation last year showed that colleges and universities have failed to control costs and have been increasing tuition at rates that far outstrip median household incomes. As of 2009, the average college graduate had incurred student debt of over $24,000.

“The state’s universities are refusing to run their institutions efficiently and they’re passing the cost of that failure on to students, families and taxpayers,” said Martin Cothran, senior policy analyst with The Family Foundation of Kentucky.

The University of Louisville (6 percent), University of Kentucky (6 percent) and Eastern Kentucky University (5 percent) have all raised tuition during the past month. No one in Frankfort seems to be paying attention. (Hmmmm. We wonder if the state auditor might begin paying as much attention to public universities as she has been to for-profit colleges recently.)

"When gas stations in Jefferson County dramatically increased their prices several years ago, the Attorney General launched an investigation because of the effect on the public," Cothran said. "Universities are increasing their prices at almost three times the rate of inflation. Where are the investigations?"

Where, indeed?

Kentucky’s Ed schools resisting US News & World Report plan to rank teacher preparation institutions nationwide

Education Week reports (subscription?) that the education school complexes in Kentucky and several other states are resisting a partnership between the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) and US News & World Report magazine to rank the performance of education schools around the country.

Per EdWeek, Kentucky’s Ed school crowd says the USN&WR/NCTQ proposal lacks transparency.

Perhaps.

But, it is our public Ed schools that are refusing to voluntarily provide information the NCTQ wants to evaluate. To be honest, that seems rather foolish, because the NCTQ is just going to open records request the information, anyway.

I am still looking at information on what the USN&WR/NCTQ evaluation will examine, so I don’t know if this particular ranking effort will be worthwhile. However, I strongly suspect the evaluations will be conducted and published because the NCTQ people I talked to are VERY motivated, with good reason. When you cut through all the noise, the facts are that the US has slipped on international testing, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that after many years of focusing on education reform, K to 12 student performance across the nation still lags what we all would like to see.

By the way, the NCTQ also has some interesting arguments to support their side of the story. You can find some of that here.

Also, the NCTQ is very familiar with some stunning comments made by Arthur Levine, past president of Columbia Teachers College.

In his report, “Educating Researchers,” Levine writes about his interviews with education school personnel responsible for training the research community. Says Levine:

“It quickly became apparent that in today’s highly charged environment, those interviewed for this study had less interest in ‘truth telling’ than in defending their positions.”

That comment, from the former head of one of the nation’s oldest, most competitive and best-known teacher preparation institutions, raises concerns about Ed school protests against the USN&W report.

So, is USN&WR off track with their planned evaluation, or are Ed schools just trying to hide serious problems?

Stay tuned for more on this one.

Taken for a ride in Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee wants limo and sedan drivers off the road. The Institute for Justice is fighting the good fight.



This reminds me a bit of Bastiat's famous petition from candlestick makers to the French Parliment. As the tongue-in-cheek complaint goes, the makers of products related to lighting didn't like the competition ... provided by the sun.

Waters speaks to NKy TEA party members

Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, will speak to The Northern Kentucky Tea Party today at Noon, at Pee Wee's Restaurant in Crescent Springs, Ky.

All freedom loving, taxpaying citizens are welcome to attend.

BIPPS chair responds to Elizabeth Warren university visit

The University of Kentucky hosted Elizabeth Warren Monday night.  Mrs. Warren is a special assistant to President Obama whose address to the campus was titled "Debt, Credit and the Middle Class".

Bluegrass Institute board chair Kathy Gornik was in attendance and had this to say regarding the address (also posted in the comments section of this Kentucky.com article):

I attended last night's lecture by Dr. Elizabeth Warren which I found to be very biased toward big government solutions and very much opposed to market solutions to our economic problems. Indeed, to Dr. Warren, free markets are the problem, and her condescending characterization of consumers-as-victims is her justification for the formation of the newly-formed Consumer Financial Protection Program which she now heads. This is simply not an accurate depiction of how consumers experience the credit card market which is the main thrust of the new agency and the focus of last evening's presentation. In fact, I never, ever hear any of my friends or employees complain about their credit card companies, so I don't know what problem Dr. Warren is attempting to fix with her big new expensive Federal Bureaucracy.

Her reference to the "shrubbery that muggers can hide in" for credit card contracts could be just as easily leveled at IRS tax regulators who assault us with infinitely more confused verbiage and with consequences for us on a much larger financial scale than credit cards companies ever could. On the other hand, I know of no one who didn't find their tax preparation a truly vexing, dispiriting experience, despite paying for experts to prepare and file them.

Every single complaint Dr. Warren alleged against credit card companies are questionable as to their actual existence; but turn the tables toward government tax and regulatory codes which we are all required to follow at the point of a gun (unlike credit card companies which you can freely leave at will) and you will see that the government is a far worse perpetrator of the evils Dr. Warren is attempting to save the citizens from.

Additionally the Q & A was a huge disappointment. Despite a large stack of questions submitted by the audience, the moderator kept flipping through them, reading them, and passing them by, selecting only a few that, IMHO, were softballs predictably thrown and which yielded predictable, uninteresting answers. I submitted a question which asked "How much will this new Federal Bureaucracy cost taxpayers?" Given the relevance of cost to the evening's discussion, you would think this would be a question worthy of an answer. I found out that at least one other person submitted the same question. But it was never brought up, and a very fundamental fact for providing context to the assertions in the presentation was never brought to light.

The evening could have been far more interesting and educational if Dr. Warren had had to face some very good and tough questions from an audience wanting to hear her defend her assumptions and assertions about the benefits of government intervention in the economy. As it was, it came across as "The Dr. Elizabeth Warren Show" and it was apparently set up in advance to keep it that way. Too bad for everyone who longed for a more vigorous and substantive debate.

Elected officials not wanting to break from the script and answer the tough questions - I'd like to see that changed myself.

Cutting wasteful defense earmarks could keep nation safer

You know Washington's budget process is broken when both Democrats and Republicans agree that an earmark isn't needed, but it's still being considered for future funding.

Read Jim Waters' recent column that appeared in Friday's Business First (Louisville) on one such earmark -- D.C.'s latest "bridge-to-nowhere" type project here.

Fayette County Schools stakeholder survey

The Fayette County Public Schools system is on the hunt for a new superintendent. They have set up a survey for interested parties to share their thoughts about the selection process, what they want to see in a superintendent, and what they currently like about Fayette County Schools.

You can find the survey here! 

Recently the Bluegrass Institute released superintendent hiring tips gathered from lessons learned.  Share your thoughts on the survey!

Lets not reward failure in Kentucky schools anymore!

One way Kentucky can reform Medicaid: FLEX

Kentucky's Medicaid program is in trouble, and we need not look far to see the problems. This year's legislative session focused heavily on plugging the $100 million budget deficit. Kentucky's Chamber of Commerce has identified Medicaid as one of its leaky bucket issues. With the mandated expansion of the program under ObamaCare set for 2014, the future solvency of Kentucky's Medicaid program faces even greater challenges.

Last week, the American Action Forum released a new four-part strategy, called FLEX, for states and the federal government to address the Medicaid problem. FLEX focuses on financial accountability, lean operations, ensured access to care, and expanded state ownership.

The final recommendation of expanded state ownership is the crux of real Medicaid reform efforts, and something that is lacking in the commonwealth. Under the current system, the federal government bears more of the financial burden, and therefore, gets the upper hand in establishing state Medicaid rules. As a result, states have little incentive to focus on maintaining solvent programs. Authors Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Michael Ramlet explain,

"At its core the flawed federal-state matching formula has fueled runaway spending. Medicaid’s current payment structure gives states a perverse incentive to spend with little incentive to save or innovate. "

In order to fix this structure, the authors argue that program incentives need changing:

"Adopting the FLEX strategy would establish a long-term commitment to improving the Medicaid program and put in place the type of aligned incentives for states that encourage savings and innovation through coordinated care delivery."

If left unaltered, Kentucky's Medicaid program will continue to cripple the state budget, and worse, not effectively provide care for the commonwealth's most vulnerable residents. Kentucky must begin to address the root causes of our Medicaid problems instead of just focusing on the symptoms.

School choice programs boasting higher graduation rates

The evidence showing students in school-choice programs are benefiting from the competition continues to mount.

A new report for School Choice Wisconsin by University of Minnesota sociologist John Robert Warren shows students participating in Milwaukee's nationally acclaimed school choice program were 18 percent more likely to graduate than students from all economic backgrounds in Milwaukee Public Schools.

In six of the seven years of data studied by Warren, Milwaukee Parental Choice Program voucher students had higher graduation rates than their public-school peers. During that time period, graduation rates rose for both choice and public-school students.

Another group of researchers at the University of Arkansas following the MPCP's success reached the same conclusion. A report released March 30 by a team led by professor Patrick J. Wolf found that Milwaukee's school-choice program "increases the likelihood of a student graduating from high school and enrolling in college."

How these researchers did it:

"At the start of our evaluation, we carefully matched the entire group of 801 9th-grade students enrolled in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program with a similar group of 801 9th-graders in Milwaukee Public Schools," Wolf said. "Four years later, the students in the voucher program were more likely to have graduated from high school and enroll in a four-year college than were their public school counterparts. Our estimates of the higher rates of college enrollment for the students in the voucher program ranged from 5 to 7 percentage points and were statistically significant in most of the comparisons."

The Beshear administration and its naive supporters in the legislature support a policy to force students to remain in high school until they age 18.

Of course, that is a politically correct, less-risky approach for politicians than offering parents a choice. Yet, the research increasingly shows that parental choice is working not only to keep kids in school, but also to move on to college.

Our education leaders claim their top priority is getting students college/career ready, yet they work to avoid the controversy surrounding school-choice programs -- mainly provided by teachers unions and bureaucrats who are staunch defenders and their fellow staunch defenders of the status quo in the Legislature.

But that's where the rub comes.

If the research shows that school choice programs are resulting in more kids graduating and going to college, but the teachers unions don't want it because they will lose control and power, whose interests are we going to go with: the kids or the adults?

Quote of the day: Bring your 'chicken in every pot' idea to the next Tea Party

"You know, come on down to a Tea Party, bring your Huey Long rhetoric- a chicken in every pot, a windmill in every … backyard. Bring it on down to the Tea Party; let’s have a discussion. Let’s bring it to the American public. The Tea Party’s been lectured about spending; who among you has voted against an appropriations bill?" --Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, in a fiery speech on the floor of the United States Senate, April 14, 2011.

Don't miss BIPPS' ad on the Constitution in The Lane Report

A new full-page ad released this month by supporters of the Bluegrass Institute tackles the most misunderstood clauses in the U.S. Constitution.

Politicians and bureaucrats increasingly use the General Welfare, Commerce and Necessary and Proper clauses of the Constitution to justify today’s unprecedented government intrusion into health care, energy and many other areas directly affecting Kentucky’s economy and its citizens’ freedoms.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Institute news release.

Jefferson County Schools getting more criticism for staffing in failing schools

The Courier-Journal ran a large article today about how Kentucky’s Education Commissioner Terry Holliday is getting more and more critical of the way Jefferson County Public Schools restaffed teachers in their Persistently Low-Achieving Schools.

The Courier points out that some of these schools wound up with large numbers of first-year teachers after the restaffing took place.

That was not the intent of House Bill 176 from the 2010 Regular Legislative Session.

The Courier also notes that an Office of Education Accountability Report, which the Bluegrass Institute put on line several months ago, has data on the large number of inexperienced teachers that wound up in Jefferson County’s lowest performing schools. You can see the number of new teachers by school on Page 38 of the OEA report.

Not mentioned in the Courier article is even more damaging commentary in the OEA report, which also says on page 40 that the school district’s Memorandum of Agreement with the teachers’ union in the school district violated House Bill 176 provisions.

“While the statute clearly stipulates that ‘professionally negotiated contracts by a local board of education shall not take precedence over the requirements’ associated with the option selected, JCPS and JCTA entered into an MOA as to how the restaffing would take place.”

Maybe the Courier is saving that important comment for another article.

What would a Medicaid block grant mean for Kentucky?

Last Friday, the U.S. House passed Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan. In it, Ryan proposed transforming Medicaid funding into a block grant. By capping the amount of money the federal government provides in the form of a block grant, states, in turn, would receive greater flexibility to run their programs.

Block granting Medicaid would significantly change this joint state and federal program. The debate has already ensued.

Specifically in Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear made his opinion clear when he signed a letter co-written by 17 governors urging Washington's leaders not to block grant Medicaid. The governors write that a block grant would "shift costs to states and threaten program integrity."

In an op-ed today, Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute claims that this letter actually strengthens the case for block grants. Cannon argues that the current system allows governors to shift costs in an effort to bring in more from the federal government:

"Matching grants are such a cash cow that states hatch all manner of schemes to 'pull down' as much federal money as possible."

Sound familiar?

One of the most fundamental problems with the current system, as Cannon argues, is the lack of incentive for governors to curb fraud and abuse under the current Medicaid structure because the federal government receives most of the savings. But a block grant would encourage governors and Medicaid commissioners to eliminate waste. Cannon closes,

"Under block grants, states would keep 100 percent of the savings from rooting out fraud and abuse, which would encourage states to spend their Medicaid dollars wisely, reduce the cost of the program, and enable states to do more with fewer resources."

Increasing costs, fraud and abuse are all too common in Kentucky Medicaid today. Wouldn't our citizens be best served by a program with incentives to create savings and eliminate waste?

Catching government doing good: Becoming 'smart' on crime

While there was a lot of political acrimony and grandstanding during this year's legislative sessions, lawmakers did lay aside their partisanship and crossed the bridge from just being "tough on crime" to becoming "smart on crime."

House Bill 463, which was signed by Gov. Steve Beshear on March 3, will save Kentucky taxpayers an estimated $420 million over the next decade by overhauling drug laws, as well as the sentencing, probation and parole system.

A task force on the issue, chaired by Democratic Rep. John Till, a former prosecutor, and Republican Sen. Tom Jensen, a criminal defense attorney, had solicited research from the Pew Center of the States about what had worked in other states.

The study "provided research about what had worked in other states, such as Texas, which reduced costs while lowering the crime rate," Ronnie Ellis, a reporter and columnist for CNHI News Service, wrote. "Polling showed the public preferred 'swift and certain punishment' to long, costly sentences. The polls also indicated the public favored treatment over incarceration for nearly three-quarters of Kentucky inmates who were addicts."

Ellis chronicles how this sound government policy came about and, frankly, its necessity by showing how Kentucky's corrections budget has increased and how "jails were bleeding county budgets dry."

Quote of the day: Whose fault is it, anyhow?

"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them." --Charley Reese in a column written for the Orlando Sentinel in 1985 entitled "The 545 people responsible for all of America's woes."

It would be worth your time to read this short column in which Reese expresses little tolerance for politicians who blame "special interests" or "lobbyists' or "disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' inflation,' or 'politics.'"

Join us for TEA by the river in Owensboro

Join the Bluegrass Institute at the Owensboro Tea Party this Saturday, April 16 beginning at Noon at English Park, 2 Woodford Ave, Owensboro, Ky.

Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications, will speak at the event.

Read one of Jim's Bluegrass Beacon columns on the TEA parties here and listen to an archived Bluegrass Audio here.

Quote of the day: EPA's 'best' days are behind it

"The EPA is over the hill in age and relevance. The agency makes oppressive regulations at the expense of the taxpayers, consumers and the American economy. The unelected bureaucrats at the EPA now exist to enforce radical agendas that have been repeatedly rejected by both houses of Congress.” --Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Waters speaks to NKy TEA party members

Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, will speak to The Northern Kentucky Tea Party on Wed., April 20, at Pee Wee's Restaurant in Crescent Springs, Ky.

All freedom loving, taxpaying citizens are welcome to attend.

Transparency, FreedomKentucky around town

Transparency, accountability and FreedomKentucky.org are catching on here in the Bluegrass State...

Governor's dropout proposal falls short of graduating

Gov. Beshear's desire to force kids to remain in school until age 18 gets a failing grade for many reasons. It fails to consider: the dramatic cost involved, the effect it would have on students who actually want to be in school and the fact that similar policies in other states generally do not result in dramatic increases in graduation rates.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon.

When rigorous isn’t rigorous

A new study of student performance has just been released from the National Center for Education Statistics.

The study “presents information about the types of courses that high school graduates in the class of 2009 took during high school, how many credits they earned, and the grades they received. Information on the relationships between high school course taking records and performance in mathematics and science on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is also included.”

Sadly, if you read the “America’s High School Graduates, Results of the 2009 NAEP High School Transcript Study” report’s executive summary, you would never know what the Education Trust says is shown in the report. EdTrust points out:

“High-Level Curriculum Not Always ‘Rigorous’

Students need rigorous coursework to prepare them for success in college and the workplace. Years of advocacy and policy change have resulted in more students—particularly students of color—taking high-level courses. Now, a new study reveals that access to these classes does not always equate with high-quality instruction. Some courses appear to be “rigorous” in name only.

Data from the 2009 High School Transcript Study, by National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), show that the more rigorous coursework is helping, but disparities still exist. African-American graduates who took a rigorous curriculum scored 45 points higher on the NAEP mathematics exam than those who took a standard curriculum.

However, performance gaps persisted between cohorts of students completing what is, supposedly, the same level of curriculum. Latinos completing a mid-level curriculum, for instance, performed about as well on the NAEP mathematics and science assessments as white graduates completing a below standard curriculum. African-American graduates taking the most rigorous curriculum, meanwhile, performed about as well as white graduates following a mid-level curriculum.

To prepare students for today's global economy, all must have access to rigorous courses that live up to their name.”

You have to go all the way to page 40 in the report and interpret the graphs for yourself to see that EdTrust is right.

Why didn’t the people who created this federally funded report spot that?

Good show, EdTrust.

Pay more attention to the endemic gaps, NCES!

Kentucky's economic 'spin'ning wheel

Today, the unemployment numbers came out for Kentucky, with the kind of spin that only a government bureaucrat is talented to offer.

Even though the March unemployment rate of 10.2 percent was the same as November's, Justine Detzel, chief labor analyst for the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training, analyzed that to mean: the economy's improving.

Quote of the day: Measuring teachers' success

"Now, the best teachers are often paid the same as the most ineffective ones, and arbitrary employment standards mean that when school districts are forced into layoffs, a more-effective younger teacher will frequently lose her job before a potentially less-effective colleague who has simply been there longer." --Jocelyn Huber, Democrats for Education Reform, Director of Teacher Advocacy

Summit for special needs students, families and professionals

To all parents of special needs students in Kentucky:

"Special Needs Summit 2011" will take place on Friday, April 29, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Complex at WKU, located at 104 14th St.

The summit will feature workshops for parents, professionals and college students. Fun activities for the entire family will be from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. so that children may attend after school.

Activities will include a CEC Talent Show and an "Autism Really Speaks" panel.

To register, call (270) 745-4233 or go to www.wku.edu/specialneedssummit and print and fax the form.

Read "Enable the Disabled," the Bluegrass Institute's report advocating for more educational options for the parents of Kentucky's special-needs students here.

Fact Check: Instructional Leadership?

This is an excerpt from the 2009-2010 Knox County Public Schools superintendent performance evaluation:

A 6.0 is a perfect cumulative score on the evaluation meaning every school board member rated the superintendent at this score.

Do these test scores reflect a perfect 6.0?

% of students meeting ACT benchmark scores in 2009-10

The fact is these percentages don't reflect instructional leadership.

Kentucky Board of Education approves major parts of new assessment system

In its meeting on April 13, 2011, the Kentucky Board of Education approved major portions of the state’s new assessment system, which has yet to get a name. Key elements in the system which had scoring weights approved today include:

NEXT-GENERATION LEARNERS

• Achievement (Proficiency on new state tests)

• Gap (To the goal of 100 for each minority and special student group)

• Readiness for College/Careers (Based on ACT, EXPLORE and PLAN testing and testing from certain industry skills certification tests)

• Graduation Rate


The board continues discussions on other parts of the assessment program, which include:

NEXT-GENERATION INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS AND SUPPORT

• Program Reviews for writing, arts & humanities and practical living

• Working Conditions Survey participation rate (Not evaluated for answers, just percent of staff who responded)

NEXT-GENERATION PROFESSIONALS

• Percent Effective Teachers

• Percent Effective Leaders

NEXT-GENERATION SCHOOLS/DISTRICTS

• Revised Report Cards

• New Accountability System


Discussions on these items will continue at the board’s June meeting.

Toni Konz from the Courier-Journal has an expanded explanation of the testing system here.

AdvanceKentucky scores another hit with AP course performance

One of the big highlights at today’s meeting of the Kentucky Board of Education was an eye-catching presentation from the outstanding folks at AdvanceKentucky, the privately funded effort to vastly increase the opportunity for Kentucky’s public school students to take Advanced Placement courses in Math, Science and English (MSE).

Advance Kentucky Presentation Team (L to R), Amy Patterson, Lew Acampora, Joanne Lang (Executive Director), Tina Rose, Monique Morton, Tricia Rennen (College Board)

Take a look at this graphic, which shows AdvanceKentucky schools’ improvement in college credit Qualifying Scores (QS) on the AP (scores of 3, 4 or 5) between 2009 and 2010 compared to high schools across the commonwealth and the nation.


Except, there really isn’t any comparison. Statewide, Kentucky saw a 9.1 percent increase in the number of AP scores of 3, 4, or 5.

But, in the first group of AdvanceKentucky schools (Cohort 1, which included 12 schools), the number of qualifying scores increased 45.2 percent between 2009 and 2010. This was just shy of five times the increase statewide. Cohort 1’s percentage increase in qualifying AP scores is up by a factor of 162 percent since 2008.

WOW!

For the 16 schools in AdvanceKentucky’s Cohort 2, which entered the program in 2009, there was a 62 percent rise in the number of tests graded 3, 4 or 5 between 2009 and 2010.

DOUBLE WOW!

It’s no wonder that AdvanceKentucky is expanding again. Today it was announced that another 20 schools will take part in the next school term. That raises the total number of participating schools to 64 spread across 52 Kentucky school districts.

And, that raises a sad note. Even with the announcement of the 20 new Cohort 4 schools, NOT ONE SCHOOL FROM KENTUCKY’S LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICT IS PARTICIPATING IN ADVANCEKENTUCKY. Not one.

Read more »

Lexington mayor's bold budget proposal

It seems like every week we hear of new states, counties, and cities suffering from financial woes. Lexington, Kentucky has not been immune to these budget struggles.

In an attempt to remedy these problems, newly installed Lexington mayor Jim Gray unveiled an ambitious budget plan that eliminates 28 jobs, closes two pools and a golf course, and hits the pause button on his salary for six months. In total, there are $27 million in spending cuts. The reasoning behind this? Revenue is flat and spending must be curbed. Gray calls this a "businessman's budget".

Tough decisions made in tough times.

The ball is now in the court of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council to review and debate the budget plan.

Quote of the day: Learning from the greatest generation

"Instead of demanding ever more from government, we must reclaim those basic virtues from The Greatest Generation and begin to do more for ourselves. That means younger people must take charge of their own retirement. It also means more people must stop worrying about health care and begin to focus on staying well. The healthier we are, the less we will need doctors, hospitals and medicine." --Cal Thomas

Happy birthday, RomneyCare!

This week marks five years since then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed "RomneyCare" into law in Massachusetts. That legislation provides a sober reminder that state policy that assaults freedom can give rise to federal policy that assaults freedom. Here's a video I produced last year with the help of the Cato Institute's David Boaz and Michael Cannon that describes the trouble Romney might have as he pursues the Presidency for the next two years.



Oddly enough, Romney announced the formation of an exploratory committee for President on anniversary.

Watch Bluegrass Institute videos at our YouTube channel.

Jefferson County School Board hears what public wants in next school superintendent

Jefferson County citizens want a new superintendent who knows how to turn around failing schools and who can deal with the bullying which is now becoming a major issue.

WAVE-3 has the details on what citizens are saying to the school board here.

Kentucky’s only ‘charter school’ is growing

So, why do we only have one?

Technically, it’s a unique institution.

However, the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at Western Kentucky University operates a lot like charter schools found in other states.

Gatton is a school of choice. Students from anywhere in Kentucky can select Gatton instead of the ‘resides’ school they normally would be forced to attend based on their home address.

It awards a public high school diploma.

It provides a superior education.

And, like charter school enrollment across the country, Gatton is also growing.

Gatton is a resident campus school open to public school students from anywhere in Kentucky who have high enough grades and ACT scores to qualify. Gatton offers students outstanding exposure to advanced courses, including regular college courses taught at Western Kentucky University. Many of those courses are taught by college professors who are real subject matter experts instead of public school teachers who often are not as deeply prepared.

But, Gatton is the only school of its kind in Kentucky.

Why is that?

Read more »

Voter registration deadline looms

It is every citizen’s right to vote in the elections, please make sure you are registered, informed and ready to cast your vote in the May 17 primary election. The deadline to register is Monday, April 18, 2011.

Voter registration cards are available online at www.vote.ky.gov/register.

Fill out and drop off the cards at your local county clerk’s office until the close of business that day. Or, if you choose to mail yours in, it must be postmarked no later than April 18. Be sure your card includes the correct address.

Check out the Voter Information Center at www.vote.ky.gov/vic to find out if, and how, you are registered, where you vote and directions to the correct polling site.

Remember if you don’t vote, don’t complain. Your vote could be the one that makes the difference.

Is this really transparency?

The Bluegrass Institute recently sent an open records request to the Office of the Governor. You can view the full request here.  In brief, the request was meant to obtain "detailed plans, analysis, projections and summaries with supporting documentation..." that the administration had that led it to claim that the Medicaid budget would break even in 2012 without budget cuts to supplement Medicaid funding.

This request was denied.

The administration denied the request based on the law specifying that only specifically described records obligate a public agency to respond.  So unless you actually work in the office you are making the request of, chances are you have no idea what the exact name of the document you want would be.

My question would be, is this really transparency?

The current administration continues to tout itself as a champion of transparency.  Here is an idea on how they can take it a step further: honor records requests to show the facts and thought processes behind the administration's Medicaid policies.


Read more about Operation: Open Records 2011

Border states have a 'Dragnet' for Kentuckians and their money

According to a recent report released by the WKU Center for Applied Economics, Kentucky lags behind most of its neighboring states in income, population and economic development. Jim Waters analyzes what the numbers mean.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Beacon.

Atlas shrugging at a theater near you this Friday!

A few weeks ago I got a chance to watch a sneak preview for the first installment of a film trilogy based on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I did not have high hopes for the adaptation, given that much of the "action" in the gargantuan novel occurs in the heads of characters, the heads of characters who can outwardly appear to be emotionless.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the film. It captures about as much of the book's essence as anyone should have expected and set up the rest of the trilogy quite well. If you are a fan of the book but also appreciate the high wire act required of anyone who might dare to adapt it to film, I think you'd enjoy it.

You'll have exactly that chance this Friday. The film opens April 15 (har har har!) and will debut in (so far) five Kentucky theaters:

Bowling Green
Great Escape Greenwood Mall 10
323 Great Escape Drive, Bowling Green, KY 42101

Lexington
Regal Hamburg Pavilion 16
1949 Starshoot Pkwy, Lexington, KY 40509

Louisville
Cinemark Tinseltown USA
4400 Towne Center Drive, Louisville, KY 40241

Rave Motion Pictures Stonybrook 20
2745 S Hurstbourne Pkwy, Louisville, KY 40220

Newport
AMC Newport on the Levee 20
1 Levee Way, Newport, KY 41071

I hope you are able to make it on opening night!

California or bust

Guess which is the worst-run state in America?

If you said California, you would be .... wrong!

When high school dropouts are really determined

THE THIRD GRADE!

Psst: Age 18 dropout laws probably won’t fix this!

"Third grade is a kind of pivot point," says Donald J. Hernandez, sociology professor at Hunter College, at the City University of New York. "We teach reading for the first three grades and then after that children are not so much learning to read but using their reading skills to learn other topics. In that sense if you haven't succeeded by 3rd grade it's more difficult to [remediate] than it would have been if you started before then."

Quoted from a short article (subscription??) in Education Week’s Inside School Research blog, which should be mandatory reading for everyone involved with education in Kentucky, including our governor.

Hernandez’s study tracks students who were poor readers in the third grade through the rest of their school experience. Some of the study’s findings, shown by the bullets below, are stunning:

• One in six children who are not reading proficiently in third grade fail to graduate from high school on time, four times the rate for children with proficient third-grade reading skills.

• Children who have lived in poverty and are not reading proficiently in third grade are about three times more likely to dropout or fail to graduate from high school than those who have never been poor.

• Among children with two risk factors—poverty and reading skills below the proficient mark— 26 percent do not graduate from high school, compared to 9 percent with these subpar reading scores who have never experienced poverty.

Education Week had additional findings which I didn’t find in the main report. I suspect they come from an interview with Hernandez. Those findings are shown by the following bullets:

• Students who struggled with reading in early elementary school comprise 88 percent of those who did not receive a diploma by age 19.

In other words, you can spot the dropouts way back in third grade. This indicates that just extending the time in school to age 18 has little likelihood of improving graduation rates. The kids still can’t read, so they can’t do the work.

• Low reading skills are an even stronger predictor of dropping out than spending at least a year in poverty.

So much for the poverty excuse!

• 89 percent of students in poverty who did read on level by 3rd grade graduated on time. That’s statistically no different from the students who never experienced poverty but did struggle with reading early on.

Again, so much for the poverty excuse! WHEN poor kids get decent reading instruction, they also succeed.

• More than one in four poor, struggling readers did not graduate, compared with only 2 percent of good readers from wealthier backgrounds.

That’s over 25 percent versus just 2 percent, a ratio of more than 12 times, which shows kids who don’t learn to read by the third grade are phenomenally more likely to drop out of school.

So, let’s get this straight. It’s about reading, and doing it well by the end of third grade, or else very likely bad things are going to happen.

That means a dropout prevention plan that focuses on high school isn’t likely to work very well unless it first teaches challenged high school students to read, and then, somehow, miraculously overcomes years of ineffective education.

Quote of the day: Federalism

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite." --James Madison, "The Federalist, No. 45"

Price tag for this year's special legislative session: $1.5 million

Even worse than the fact that this year's special legislative session was unproductive is how expensive it became.

According to numbers I obtained from the LRC, politicians have cost taxpayers nearly $2 million during the past two years just because they could not get their work done on time.

Last year's special session to address the budget and the state's road plan lasted six days and cost $380,000. The price tag for this year's 24-day session, which lasted from March 14 through April 6: $1.5 million.

These figures are based on the LRC's estimated cost of $63,500 each day legislators meet in Frankfort.

Since special sessions are called by the governor, who sets the agenda, it's worthy of note here that Gov. Steve Beshear did not abide by his own past rhetoric about agreement between the House and Senate before calling a special session.

This year's special session could have been avoided if the governor had agreed to the Kentucky Senate's bipartisan proposal to cut spending rather than insist that Kentucky borrow $167 million from next year's Medicaid budget to fill this year's Medicaid budget deficit. (Read more about Kentucky's Medicaid program here.)

Perhaps the governor would consider reimbursing taxpayers out of his hefty campaign war chest?

A government of enumerated, and therefore limited, powers

I spoke with Utah's new U.S. Senator Mike Lee yesterday and asked him what federal spending is beyond the proper scope of federal involvement. His answer is worth hearing.

Now it's time to manage?

Now that the special session has ended, the governor and the Health and Family Services secretary have begun their work to move all Medicaid enrollees to managed care in the commonwealth.

Yesterday, CHFS Secretary Janie Miller released a statement announcing that her cabinet had issued a request for proposal (RFP) seeking proposals from managed care organizations (MCOs). The deadline for responses to the RFP is May 25, and the target date to have contracts in place is July 1.

Sec. Miller announced this was a "milestone" for Kentucky's Medicaid program. Miller stated, "We must aggressively pursue ways to better manage health care services and control rising costs. Managed care is a proven strategy that has been tested in both the public and private sectors."

But the question remains, if the secretary is so confident about the potential success of managed care, why did the governor veto an independent audit of managed care savings? Will the state be able to save enough to make up for this year's budgetary mess? Time will surely tell.

How much is enough?

Here's just another reason why Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, is right in wanting to shut down the U.S. Department of Education: Since 2000, the department's budget has increased by 57 percent -- and that's adjusted for inflation!

Teach for America coming to Kentucky -- finally

Great news!

A news release passed along by the Kentucky Department of Education says the Bluegrass State is about to get its first group of Teach for America (TFA) teachers. They are heading for some of our most demanding Appalachian area schools.

Who are these teachers? They are graduates from some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges who major in core academic subjects rather than education. They are competitively recruited by TFA to get the extra training they need for teaching and then commit to serve at least two years in a challenging school.

Teach for America’s web site says:

“Teach For America provides a critical source of well-trained teachers who are helping break the cycle of educational inequity. These teachers, called corps members, commit to teach for two years in one of 39 urban and rural regions across the country, going above and beyond traditional expectations to help their students to achieve at high levels.”

Outside research confirms that TFA teachers do a good job, especially in high schools.

One study by the University of North Carolina found that TFA teachers outperformed classically trained teachers from UNC in 5 out of 9 comparisons. TFA teachers matched the UNC graduates in the other four comparisons. In no case did the TFA teachers perform more poorly.

The same study shows TFA has the biggest advantage in high schools. That makes sense given the fact that TFA candidates have majored in important academic areas like math and science.

It will be interesting to see how the TFA teachers perform compared to other new teachers.

Will they match, or exceed, the performance of teachers from some of our ed schools?

Will Kentucky be able to encourage these potentially outstanding new teachers to stay on after their two-year commitments are completed?

Expecting educational excellence

"We have lowered our expectations to a level where getting by is considered acceptable," wrote Hank Bond, publisher of the Greenup Beacon, in a recent column addressing problems with Kentucky's education system.

Bond, who worked as a public relations professional with a school district for a few years, offers the close-up view of one who has witnessed the challenges of public education on a daily basis.

While he claims "the number one problem ... is the level of interaction and interest of parents," he also hammers on another theme, which really gets to the heart of it: "it's time we as a general population increase our expectations."

And it's not just expectations of parents he addresses, either. Teachers, administrators. superintendents (and we will add lawmakers here) also need to up their game, he says.

"I just have to tell you this, money isn't the answer. It is an expectation of excellence that is necessary," he writes.

And I just have to say: Amen.

Education task force's report: More talk, few new ideas

The Governor's Education Task Force report proposes many ideas for ''breaking new ground'' when it comes to Kentucky's education system. However, a closer examination reveals that the task force's recommendations offer a lot of talk about the same old ideas. Most of its politically correct -- and politically safe -- proposals have been tossed around for the last two decades with little or no progress made in the commonwealth's education system.

Click here to read the latest Bluegrass Bullet.

Governor cites Prichard nonsense

Governor Steve Beshear treated the Boone County Education Foundation to nonsense education statistics a few days ago.

As reported by the Kentucky Enquirer in “Beshear touts education,” the governor touted Kentucky’s supposed dramatic improvement in the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing program compared to other states.

Well, as we’ve pointed out before, those rankings of NAEP performance, which the governor got from the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence – not a proper state agency – are mathematical nonsense.

Kentuckians deserve better data and a more reasoned evaluation of the performance of our education system.

Read more »

Tea Party starting to get involved with local school board races

In an encouraging sign that citizens are starting to take more interest in their schools, Education Week reports (subscription?) that local Tea Parties are starting to get involved in local school board races.

This marks an important change in the conduct of school board races, which in the past have often been dominated by teachers’ unions and their money.

Here in Kentucky, for example, a recent Bluegrass Institute open records request for ‘Independent Expenditures’ on behalf of political candidates uncovered evidence of the Jefferson County Teachers Association and its political action group providing individual school board candidates with campaign support over $100,000. It is virtually impossible for independent school board candidates to match such financial competition.

Absent involvement of a strong, motivated group like the Tea Party, teachers’ union dollars generally give the unions a free hand in controlling the races and, ultimately, the operation of local school systems. That leads to excessively teacher friendly but child hostile contracts and other programs such as Jefferson County’s disastrous busing for integration program.

Now, as EdWeek reports, citizens are waking up to reality – a huge proportion of their tax dollars go to our under-performing education system, so if citizens want to get some relief from the incessant expansion of taxes, the schools are one of the first places to look.

Jefferson County schools think because they are bigger, they can be ‘badder’

It’s becoming a typical pattern for Jefferson County Public Schools – dispute every number that shows you are doing poorly instead of digging in to make changes that improve things.

Fox41 reports Jefferson County tops the state for the most problems in a new report on school safety.

Fox also says Jack Jacobs, a spokesperson for Jefferson County Public Schools, claims that comparing the district to other districts in the state is unfair because Jefferson County is so large.

Now, hold on a minute. The new school safety report isn’t based on student counts; it’s based on percentages. Jefferson County isn’t at a disadvantage with that approach.

Besides, while most of the state’s school systems saw a reduction in school safety incidents, the trend went the other way in Jefferson County. That isn’t defensible.

I guess Jefferson County school folks think it’s OK to be bad if you are bigger.

It’s interesting to read some of the comments to this Fox article and ones in the Courier-Journal's coverage.

The district’s crazy busing plan gets mentioned more than once.


Could the busing plan be adding to violence issues? Certainly, recent reports highlighted in this blog show that the buses in Jefferson County are far from peaceful.

Oops! Pension system isn't transparent

Attorney General Jack Conway recently claimed that Kentucky Retirement Systems violated the Kentucky Open Records Act when it refused to release records pertaining to its payroll.

The reason given: the request was "unduly burdensome".

Yikes.  Is it too burdensome to know how taxpayer dollars are being spent? Surely not.

The Kentucky Open Records Act is a great tool but stories like this show that we have a long way to go before we have true transparency in Kentucky.

A federal shutdown's impact on states

The New York Times today examines what would happen to states in the event of a government shutdown.

Most of the largest federal programs that states rely on — for crucial safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps, among other things — would most likely continue to function in the event of a shutdown.

But interruptions of smaller programs could still strain states in the short run, as they find themselves forced to pay the salaries of workers normally paid with federal funds.

The budget officers’ association noted that during the shutdown in 1995, Maryland spent $1.4 million a day to keep its federally paid employees at work.

These facts don't necessarily translate into an argument against a government shutdown. But they do indicate that states should adopt budget plans that don't hinge on welfare payments from the federal government.

First portion of Obamacare repealed

One of many egregious portions of Obamacare, the 1099 provision, posed a particularly onerous burden on small business owners. The provision required businesses to file a 1099 form every time a vendor sold them $600 or more.

Yesterday, with a bipartisan vote of 87-12, the Senate voted to repeal this specific provision. This is the first portion of Obamacare Congress has repealed. The bill now will go to the President, whose staff has already praised the passage of the bill.

While this vote is only one small step in changing the course of the health care law, small business owners can breathe a sigh of relief not to face this burdensome provision.

Is health care 'for people' or 'for profit?'

"Happy first birthday, Obamacare," wrote perennial letter writer Paul Whitely, Sr., recently in the (Louisville) Courier-Journal.

Whitely extends his birthday greeting by wishing the federal health-care fiasco "many more birthdays until we ultimately secure single-payer health care in America. It will happen when citizens finally realize that health care is for people, not for profit."

But hold on, Paul. What is the motivation that creates the supply of health care needed to meet the demand -- whether it's a cholesterol-lowering drug or a pacemaker? Is it not the ability to make a "profit?"

"Health care is for people, not for profit" may make a nice slogan. But we know from countries which have removed profit incentives from their health care systems that the nice slogan becomes a disastrous policy that costs lives.

Collaborative, innovative transparency wiki? Sounds familiar!

Recently, Karl Rove's organization Crossroads set up a site called Wikiaccountability.org.  The site is designed to be a collaborative website that collects information from Freedom of Information Act requests.  This is a great tool and will go a long way toward helping force transparency and accountability in the federal government! But wait...does this concept sound familiar?

In 2008, The Bluegrass Institute launched FreedomKentucky.org - a collaborative and innovative database designed to host hard to find information about issues important to Kentuckians.  Over the past couple of years the site has become one of the largest databases of education transparency information.

The past two years have seen FreedomKentucky.org transition into hosting more information related to open records requests.  In 2010 and 2011, Operation Open Records saw hundreds of records requests submitted and responded to.  The requests and results were posted so that anyone could see the process!

"Rewarding Failure" was a result of these requests.

Wikiaccountability.org and FreedomKentucky.org are important to transparency and accountability efforts! Go check them out!

Jefferson County’s Public Schools warned: Do reforms right

In an April 1, 2011 story that, while factual, may be a horrible April Fools joke on the students in Jefferson County, the Courier-Journal reports:

“JCPS restaffing at 3 failing schools draws renewed warning from Kentucky education chief.”

Very simply, the Kentucky Commissioner of Education is warning the Jefferson County Schools that the way they have restaffed their Persistently Low-Achieving Schools may violate state law and federal requirements.

And, now, the district has done this more than once, meaning the old “we didn’t’ understand” excuse no longer works.

The Commissioner is threatening to withhold millions of dollars if the district does not clean up its act.

Read more »

'The Path to Prosperity' includes block grant for Medicaid

Today, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan released his 2012 budget proposal--"The Path to Prosperity." Ryan's proposal outlines a path to cut spending significantly. He also takes on entitlement reform. Economists and commentators have already begun to debate the plan--some on the right arguing that his budget does not go far enough and others on the left concerned with the size of his proposed cuts.

One reform in particular could be significant for the commonwealth. Ryan proposes a block grant for Medicaid. The block grant would cap the amount of federal aid states receive, and in turn, states would gain greater flexibility to run their individual Medicaid programs without oversight by the federal government.

For a state like Kentucky, Medicaid budgetary problems are not a secret, as we watched in this year's legislative session. The Bluegrass Institute has argued that increased federal funding will only hurt the state and will not solve our economic crisis.

When states limit federal funding and gain greater control, they have the opportunity to create and manage sustainable programs. Rhode Island has already proven this with its Global Consumer Choice Compact Waiver. The waiver capped spending, gave the state greater flexibility, saved the state over $100 million and even led to a budget surplus in the midst of the recession.

The debate for the 2012 budget is far from over, but a block grant for Kentucky's Medicaid program could make a substantial impact.

Huckabee's transparency problem

When Mother Jones magazine asked the Arkansas governor's office for records generated during Mike Huckabee's tenure, the response they got was, well, not encouraging ...

[New governor Mike] Beebe's chief legal counsel, Tim Gauger, replied in a letter that "former Governor Huckabee did not leave behind any hard-copies of the types of documents you seek. Moreover, at that time, all of the computers used by former Governor Huckabee and his staff had already been removed from the office and, as we understand it, the hard-drives in those computers had already been 'cleaned' and physically destroyed."

He added, "In short, our office does not possess, does not have access to, and is not the custodian of any of the records you seek."

Thankfully, the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives harvests a great deal of data from the governor's office before he/she leaves office, so Kentuckians needn't worry too much about this kind of thing happening. But it's an object lesson in what can happen when one branch of government is able to effectively hide its own performance record from citizens.

Today's BIPPS op-ed in H-L: 'Projected' savings vs. real ones

Gov. Beshear keeps saying he has "saved" Kentucky taxpayers $1 billion during his administration.

Yet, as Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications, points out in an op-ed published today by the Lexington Herald-Leader: "projected savings does not mean realized savings. After all, a big difference exists between cutting spending from a proposed budget and actually spending less money.

"Proposed cuts offer spinmeisters the political benefit of appearing fiscally prudent. Actual cutting results in pain -- and possibly lost votes -- stemming from making tough decisions.

"But that's why we pay elected officials like Beshear the big bucks. Isn't it?"

Unlike state government, Kentucky families who have had to cut back to make ends meet know a real spending cut when they see one. If Frankfort had to live within its means the way hardworking, taxpaying citizens do, the commonwealth would likely be in the "black" instead of continuing to dig the hole of debt deeper by the day.

Bluegrass Bullet: Rewarding Failure

The Bluegrass Institute's recent commentary "Rewarding Failure" took a look at how many superintendent evaluations in Kentucky are rubber-stamped and essentially meaningless.  You can read the full report here.

Getting serious about spending cuts

As the budget battle heats up in Washington, the Cato Institute has been purchasing full-page ads in top newspapers (pdf) to highlight the laughable claim that cutting $61 billion out of the federal budget is "draconian" or "extreme." The tale is told simply in one chart:

If you can't make it out, the tiny portion labeled "proposed spending cuts" is just about 1.6% of the federal budget. Cato also produced a short video that makes the same point about spending:

See the full-page ad (pdf) which presents a list of hundreds of billions of dollars in spending cuts that the federal government could make in a few weeks. The sad fact is that even making every one of these cuts still leaves a significant federal budget deficit.