A new 24/7 Wall St. report reveals that only four states are poorer than Kentucky. Kentucky’s poverty rate of 19.4 percent in 2012 was much higher than the national rate, which is less than 16 percent; median income is under $42,000 a year – more than $9,000 below the national median. Other key indicators of…
Taylor County Superintendent Roger Cook proudly announced to everyone’s surprise during a recent meeting of the Interim Joint Education Committee that he is operating an illegal charter school in his district. Will the politicians try to stop him – especially considering the fact that not a single student has dropped out of his district during…
It’s no secret that Frankfort’s bureaucratic bean counters possess quite the penchant for manipulating economic data to make their preferred agency’s performance appear as rosy as possible. Within the sphere of Kentucky’s six retirement funds, this fact is all the more troubling. That’s because the best arithmetic acrobatics our number crunchers could pull off still…
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Today the Bluegrass Institute kicks off a campaign designed to convince parents in some of Kentucky’s most failing districts that their children’s freedom to learn is being held up by one man in Frankfort – the House Education Committee chairman. “For several years now, solid legislation has been filed in Frankfort that would…
Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson’s announcement that he would not run for governor may have political rivals breathing a sigh of relief, but what he said in his announcement leaves me scratching my own head. Abramson told the Elizabethtown Rotary Club that his true passion is not politics but education reform. Could it be? Had the…
Editor’s note: Since there was no Bluegrass Beacon column last week, we are offering the following submitted column by Dr. Bill Smith, a dermatologist and friend of liberty from Madisonville. The views represent those of the author. The federal Prevailing Wage Law was established to protect local wages from the potential negative impact of the…
It was only a few months before his tragic death when, in the winter of 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy travelled to eastern Kentucky to investigate one of the most poverty-stricken areas of the nation. At a time when the federal government was waging a “war on poverty,” 98 counties in Appalachian coal country were…
Join Bluegrass Institute President Jim Waters on Tuesday at 11 a.m. on the “Brooks & Company” radio show on Bardstown’s 1320 WBRT-AM. Listen live here. The show, which airs each Tuesday from 11 a.m. to Noon, is hosted by Jim Brooks, editor of the Nelson County Gazette, which carries my weekly Bluegrass Beacon column each Thursday. Help…
Kentucky is one of only eight states that does not allow charter schools. Why? Learn about school choice!
By D. Eric Schansberg, Ph.D., and member of the Bluegrass Institute Board of Scholars A prevailing wage is a legal arrangement designed to set minimum compensation for public-sector construction workers at rates above those determined by market supply and demand – typically at rates near “prevailing” compensation for union workers. Modern-day legislation establishing prevailing –…