While busily trying to scare Kentuckians into making government bigger and more expensive out in front of everyone, Gov. Steve Beshear has quietly also signed onto a pact with 45 other state governors for national educational standards.
The Washington Post has the story and the quote of the day:
Margaret Spellings, who was education secretary under President George W. Bush, said in a recent interview that she supports states coming together to raise the bar for students. But she worries that the effort could distract attention from students who are failing today.
"We have a speedometer, and it says we're going too slow," Spellings said. "Should we get a more precise speedometer? Sure. But the most important thing is speeding up."
The rest of the article is here.
Notably absent from this pact were Texas, Missouri, South Carolina, and Alaska. I think making the case for adding "shut down the U.S. Department of Education" in the 2012 GOP platform just got a real boost.
Kentucky has no business messing around with this nonsense when we have supposedly been doing it on our own for the last twenty years. The last thing we need is more blue ribbon commissions and study groups from the same people who have been drawing pay checks for twenty years doing the same things with limited results and even less accountability.
That's what Kentucky's 2009 Senate Bill 1 was all about.
