Did you know that charter schools are actually public schools, but – unlike their traditional counterparts – are free from many of the one-size-fits-any-student mandates to curriculum which stunt educational innovation? Legalize school choice now!
(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…
First, some background The process to adopt new academic standards in Kentucky’s schools is somewhat involved. After the Kentucky Department of Education develops a proposal (or, in the case of Next Generation Science Standards, grabs proposed standards from somewhere else), the Kentucky Board of Education must vote to approve a regulation adopting the new standards…
President Jim Waters will talk about the Bluegrass Institute’s new grassroots “Legalize School Choice” campaign on Louisville’s 84WHAS with guest host Mary Walter on Monday at 10 a.m. (eastern). Listen live online here. Then, if you like what you hear and you think we need a voice that continually promotes school choice for Kentucky’s parents…
With great sadness we have been advised of the passing of Dr. Faurest Coogle, a life-long educator who spent the final years of his distinguished career as an advisor to the Kentucky Senate’s leadership. While he was influential in many key pieces of education legislation, I’ll just mention two. Dr. Coogle provided the intellectual horsepower…
Did you know… Kentucky has the highest early-retiree (pre-65) public pension costs of any other state in the country? For each teacher that retires before turning 65, Kentucky taxpayers will be billed a total of nearly $800,000? Kentucky Teachers Retirement Systems (KTRS) was 61 percent funded in 2011, but fell more than a whole three…
Read the quotes below and see if you can guess which Common Core State Standards (CCSS) support group might have written them. Choices could include the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Governors’ Association, the US Department of Education, the national standards creation group known as Achieve and others. “Mere memorization of facts…
Says Fox: “A full year before students around the nation submit to the new Common Core standardized tests, the federally-backed program is already causing chaos and confusion at local school board meetings, in the classroom and at the dinner table.” Kentucky, of course, already “submitted” its children. So has New York. And, Fox points out:…
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…
The Kentucky Enquirer ran a front-page/page A4 article yesterday about a new push to finally get Kentucky into the 21st Century with a charter school bill. There are some great comments from Kentucky State Representative Brad Montell, and they even picked up my comments about the state continuing to leave minorities behind. From the Enquirer’s…