Some people get awfully excited about college kids chasing each other with a ball. There’s nothing wrong with that — I’ve even joined them a time or two — it’s just that we all choose different things that engage our imaginations or even inspire us to greater heights. Hit the link to this blog post…
Rep. Bill Farmer sent a letter to Gov. Steve Beshear last week urging swift action on the state’s fast-shrinking unemployment insurance fund. “Several months ago, I contacted Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller regarding this situation. At that time, I proposed the idea of merging our state’s unemployment tax returns with the withholding tax…
“State education finance systems were not designed with student learning in mind, nor have the superintendents and principals who manage educational resources been trained to make the strategic connection between resources and learning one would expect in a learning-oriented system. What’s more, because of the way these systems operate, elected officials, educational leaders, and the…
As expected Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced important new regulatory changes to No Child Left Behind during a South Carolina news conference today. Spellings stated the new rules tighten up widely criticized loopholes and inconsistencies in state reporting of high school graduation rates and also deal with inadequate notification to parents when their child is…
Wouldn’t it be interesting to talk with some of our nation’s Founding Fathers about the size and reach of government in the United States of America? I’m guessing there would be disdain, disgust, and horror at the sight of what we have become. Enter Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska as Exhibit A. As Andy Roth…
The Department of Justice says states can’t lease out their lotteries for big cash infusions. So Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels today scrapped plans to privatize the state’s lottery. Kentucky wouldn’t seriously discuss anything like that anyway, but we did make a little progress with the idea of cutting spending on lottery advertising in the last…
For Massachusetts voters, the most important item on the ballot November 4 won’t be the one that asks them to choose between Barack Obama and John McCain.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB2x0xxhQEI]
In Kentucky – Some Data Is Top Secret In New Jersey even the governor is getting serious about the critical problem of high public school dropout rates. He is spearheading a new effort to cut the number of kids who don’t graduate from high school. And, in an interesting twist, because low graduation rates impact…
The threat of economic chaos can benefit politicians and policymakers by sharply focusing the mind on what really works. If rumors circulating in Frankfort are to be believed, Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration could be gaining an unexpected dose of focus. Supposedly, the administration is seriously considering working to lower healthcare costs by repealing Kentucky’s Certificate…
Critics of government growth through casino proliferation sometimes claim the surest way to end the debate once and for all is to allow casinos in every state and watch them bankrupt each other in a zero-sum battle. An article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal suggests this may already be happening:Pie-in-the-sky government funding schemes could have…