The Leadership West Louisville Institute hosted one of their Lunch Forum Panel discussions today on the “Academic Genocide” going on in Louisville’s Persistently Low-Achieving Schools (PLAs). Panelist Terry Holliday, the Kentucky Commissioner of Education, got hit with what-if questions and came right back with some here’s-how-it-is answers. This is by far the strongest commentary yet…
Today is a great day for the Bluegrass Institute, and the commonwealth. Earlier today, Gov. Steve Beshear signed House Bill 1 into law, a law that will finally shine the light of public transparency on Kentucky’s “ghost governments.” These spooky bureaucratic entities consist of more than 1,200 special taxing districts across the commonwealth which have…
A new move by the US Department of Education to bypass state departments of education is stirring up squabbles within the education community. Education Week reports in “Arne Duncan Spars With State K-12 Chiefs Over District Waivers (Subscription?) that the latest No Child Left Behind waiver business, where waivers are granted directly to school districts…
What began as a simple, straightforward question on Wednesday concerning the White House’s secret drone program eventually turned into the boldest stance taken by any lawmaker – whether from Washington or Frankfort – in a long time. After failing to get clear assurances from the Obama administration that it would not use drones to target…
The Bluegrass Institute has pointed to serious problems with the transparency of information about public school superintendents for several years now with our Rewarding Failure expose. Our efforts are now being vindicated. In a press conference today, Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Adam Edelen and Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday called for greatly…
(Frankfort, Ky.) – The Bluegrass Institute supports efforts announced this week by the Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday and State Auditor Adam Edelen to bring transparency to the school superintendent evaluation and compensation process. In a joint news conference on Thursday, Holliday and Edelen announced their intention to require school superintendent contracts, evaluations and…
A recent Lexington Herald-Leader editorial praises two bills from this year’s General Assembly that deal with transparency in government. I agree with this editorial in that I think it is fantastic that government transparency has become an issue that is being talked about regularly. In fact, The Bluegrass Institute supported the efforts to make special…
But, will this help Jefferson County? The US Department of Education just announced that Kentucky will get another $7.7 million to spend on improving the state’s Persistently Low-Achieving Schools (PLAs) under the federal government’s School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. US Ed’s announcement also claims: “Early findings show positive momentum and progress in many SIG schools,…
Case being referred to FBI New superintendent asked for audit In the latest of an on-going stream of highly revealing audits of improper activities in local school systems around Kentucky, Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Adam H. Edelen just released a new shocker on highly questionable payments to the recently retired superintendent in the Dayton…
Case being referred to FBI New superintendent asked for audit In the latest of an on-going stream of highly revealing audits of improper activities in local school systems around Kentucky, Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Adam H. Edelen just released a new shocker on highly questionable payments to the recently retired superintendent in the Dayton…