Fight over more challenging curriculum continues in Frankfort

School board wants higher standards

Teachers don’t

More evidence of problems with school councils in Kentucky


The latest squabble between a locally elected board of education and that district’s teachers, who control the School Based Decision Making Councils (SBDM) in the district’s schools, is playing out in the Frankfort Independent School District.

Thanks to Kentucky’s incredibly ill-advised SBDM laws, the teachers are winning the fight, and kids are losing.

The crux of the argument is that the board wants to adopt an educational program from the College Board called “Springboard.” It is aligned to the new Common Core State Standards, which are now mandated statewide. Those new standards focus on getting kids ready for college and careers.

Teachers in the district fuss that Springboard is too demanding and will leave some kids behind. Frankfort’s teachers apparently have no sense of urgency about dealing with the fact that recent readiness testing shows dismally low numbers of the district’s students are on track for success.


So, the real question might be: Are teachers controlling the SBDMs worried about kids, or are they mostly just upset about having to make some significant changes in the way they teach in order to reach higher, badly needed standards?