It is good to see that the editorial page of Kentucky’s largest newspaper continues to advocate for more transparency when it comes to children in the commonwealth’s child welfare system. The Bluegrass Institute has long advocated that transparency does more than just allow taxpayers to hold government officials for how they spend our hard-earned tax…
But, who will insure all this data is secure, who will have access, etc? I’m a big fan of research data, but I also recognize that massive amounts of personal information stored on government computers create all sorts of potential for really bad things like identity theft and governmental invasion of personal privacy. Certainly, the…
The proliferation of computer-based databases operated by Kentucky’s public school system has been very extensive, and these databases contain a large amount of sensitive information on students, parents and school employees. Examples of that sensitive information include: social security numbers, test scores, eligibility for free and reduced cost lunch, salaries, teacher evaluation materials, health conditions…
President Obama has some crucial business to tend to, even before his second term in office commences – and it must be done with a “lame-duck” session in Congress. Because of temporary tax cuts, previous budget deals, and procrastination in dealing with the debt, the country now faces a “fiscal cliff” with the sliding to…
In any state-to-state education comparison, student demographics matter In its zeal to portray Kentucky’s public education system in the best possible light, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence has issued a 2012 update to its on-going “Top 20 by 2020” reports. But, Prichard still doesn’t get this right. Prichard simply ignores advice, readily available in…
If the $34 billion price tag on Kentucky’s public pension crisis weren’t enough for our elected officials to strap on their boots and get to work on some real reform, perhaps the recent news that Kentucky Retirement Sytems’ placement agents pay little to no regard for the price tag on new investment consultants will get…
In its zeal to portray Kentucky’s public education system in the best possible light, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence has issued a 2012 update to its on-going “Top 20 by 2020” reports. But, Prichard still doesn’t get this right. Prichard simply ignores advice, readily available in all federal National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)…
The Courier-Journal reports that most of Kentucky’s public pension funds continue to decline, and are — as the Bluegrass Institute has already reported — simply unsustainable in their current forms. According to actuaries, pension benefits for members of the Kentucky Employees Retirement System’s non-hazardous retirement plan are only 27.3 percent funded this year, compared with…
Our K-PREP Data Sourcebook is now updated to include district level white minus black math proficiency rate gaps for all school levels, elementary, middle and high schools.
The goings-on in Breathitt County’s school system sound like something out of a horribly unbelievable soap opera. Except, this story is no fabrication. Former superintendent Arch Turner was recently sentenced to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine for vote buying in a serious case that eventually involved the FBI. Charges were also filed…