We hear a lot of excuses from some of our educators that one reason Kentucky’s education system fares rather poorly is because we have a lot of students in poverty, far more than most other states. Really? Well, this is another case where our educators might not be very up to date with their statistics.
Over the years the Bluegrass Institute has issued several reports on the white minus black achievement gaps in the Jefferson County Public School District (JCPS) (Click here for the latest edition). We found a number of surprises in this report series, including the fact that the largest white minus black math achievement gaps in JCPS…
On January 28, we reported on an increasingly common practice among public agencies that threatens the public’s right of access to investigative reports and analyses for which they, the public, pay. The same practice – we noted — has expanded employment opportunities for the legal community. From an open government perspective, this is unfortunate. More…
On January 26, The State Journal filed a motion for leave of court to assert a counterclaim against the Finance and Administration Cabinet in a case in Franklin Circuit Court arising from the Cabinet’s lawsuit against a reporter for the newspaper. The lawsuit seeks to reverse a favorable ruling by the Attorney General obtained by…
One benefit of forced retirement is the opportunity to monitor what is happening on the state and national open government stage that extends beyond the narrow confines of my cramped office in the basement of the Capitol. Sunlight, which my co-workers and I rarely saw in the winter months, has exposed a deeply troubling level…
The Richmond Register reports that the Madison County Board of Education has adopted a resolution in favor of Senate Bill 55. Senate Bill 55 would bring more rationality to the way Kentucky’s schools are governed under the current School Based Decision-Making laws (SBDM). For more about why such a change is needed, check our new…
Interest in the administration costs associated with Kentucky’s public education system increased recently, so I decided to explore some available data. Several days ago, I wrote about “Are Kentucky’s education administration costs out of line?” That blog looked at education funding breakdowns from the US Census Bureau’s annually issued Public Education Finances series and found…
Does choice work? EdChoice just issued a nice summary of research on the impacts of school choice programs, and I think you will find their comments easy to understand and interesting. Some points from EdChoice: “Given enough time, school choice programs create small, positive test score gains for participating students.” “School choice programs appear to…
The quick answer is that the state does appear to spend an unusually high amount on general education administration. In fact, if the state could just reduce those general administration costs to match the overall US average, annual savings on the order of $20 million seem possible. That would be about enough to give every…
In October 2017, we reported on a decision issued by the Kentucky attorney general in an open meetings dispute between The State Journal and the Finance and Administration Cabinet. The dispute centered on a State Journal reporter’s unsuccessful attempts to learn the identities of the members of the Capital Plaza Redevelopment Project Built-to-Suit Selection Committee…