I Thought We Already Killed This Bad Idea

Kentucky had a law called "no pass, no drive" from 1990 to 2003 that was supposed to cut down Kentucky's high school dropout rate.

It didn't work. Unfortunately for us, that isn't stopping House Democrats from bringing it back up all in the name of doing something about education.

There is no evidence whatsoever that "no pass, no drive" had any impact on the dropout rate in Kentucky back in its heyday, when 129 of 176 school districts used it. Thousands of students each year lost their licenses under the law for dropping out before turning 18, failing four classes, or skipping school more than nine times, but the dropout rate didn't go down.

If old court records are any indication, this law was largely ignored by its targets. Many would continue to drive on their suspended licenses and then plead "hardship" when they were caught and dragged into court.

School officials familiar with the "no pass, no drive" law complain that enforcement was often delayed by the time it took for the Department of Transportation to process school records.

Former liberal talk show host -- also former Third District Congressman -- Mike Ward sponsored the original bill back in 1990. Rep. Mike Cherry (D-Princeton) is pushing it now.

There is no good reason to consider passing this bill. It would be one thing if it worked or could convincingly be portrayed as more than another weak excuse for "doing something" about schools, but it didn't work and we can't afford to pretend that this is somehow worth another try.

We have made mention here before that there is no lobbying group to protect students and parents like there is to protect the status quo in the public education arena. If there were, louder objections to this bill would have been made this morning in the House Education Committee meeting. As it went, the Home School Legal Defense Association was notified this morning, an objection was voiced, and the bill was tabled for now. That was because of a tacked-on line by Rep. Cherry that looks like a back door method for making home schoolers answer to the Kentucky Department of Education and the courts. Rep. Tom Riner(D-Louisville), a home school parent, suggested the bill's reference to home schoolers be changed to "non-public schools," making it possible to anger more people. While this point was used to table the bill as that proposed change is to be discussed further, it really misses the larger point. Why are we trying to dredge up failed bills from the 1990's when we have real current problems to address?

The legislature is taking this moment at the crossroads of our educational system and cramming it down the toilet.

What a waste.

Democrats deserve blame for the current dithering and the recent decades of increasingly expensive treading of water, but Republicans are the ones who could have chosen real increases to educational standards as the perfect wedge issue and they have failed to capitalize.

It looks like we are going to spend the 2006 session arguing about the color of the drapes upstairs while the basement is flooding.

KY Legislature Versus Home Schoolers, Again

The House Education Committee will consider a bill tomorrow that could cause home-schooled high schoolers to lose their drivers licenses.

The purpose of the bill (HB 51) is to resurrect the old No Pass, No Drive bill that was found to be unconstitutional in 2003 because of unfair enforcement. The unconstitutional part of the bill has been removed, but one change has been added to the bill that makes it particularly problematic. The bill could prove to be a back door into regulation of home schools. Here is the most troubling part of the bill:

(5) Withdrawal of a student from a public school with notification that the student will be home schooled shall not enable the student to avoid the consequences of this section if the basis for entry into home schooling is to avoid the consequences of this section. For purposes of this section, the student shall still be considered to have dropped out of school or to be academically deficient.

The home school associations don't seem to have this one on their radar screens, but that will soon change.

Stand Up For Right To Work

It is nearly impossible to calculate the positive economic impact Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Kentucky has had on our state.

Many of us know someone who works directly for Toyota or one of its providers. That can be measured and has been. But how many millions of dollars repeatedly flood our regional economy because of the ripples caused by people who serve food, clean up for, provide paper and technology equipment, temporary and permanent housing and hundreds of other products and services to people who provide even the most mundane services to help Toyota put cars on the road?

Again, it is nearly impossible to calculate.

So why would we consciously do anything to jeopardize all of that? Clearly, we wouldn't. But the same bad result could come about if a bill before the Kentucky General Assembly is killed by the big labor unions.

House Bill 38, filed by Rep. Stan Lee (R-Lexington), would simply allow employees of union shops to opt out of union membership. This is called Right To Work and it is the law in 23 states.

The United Auto Workers has been battling against the majority of Toyota's 7000 Georgetown workers who have consistently resisted unionization since 1988. They claim to be gaining support, though that seems hard to believe. But here is the rub: if barely half of the Toyota workforce did vote to allow the union in, then all the workers would be forced to join the union and pay dues or they could lose their jobs. That is one of the reasons we need Right To Work in Kentucky.

We already have enough difficulty bringing in industrial jobs. But our vitality depends heavily on housing and serving many of the people who work in those jobs. As union membership dwindles in the Rust Belt, ferocious proselytizing for unions like the UAW has moved here and elsewhere in the south looking for new converts. They are finding precious few takers, but the efforts continue with greater urgency and wilder rhetoric. Union sycophants have even stooped to blaming mining accidents like the recent one in West Virginia on the declining influence of unions.

Toyota has one American plant in Fremont, California -- co-owned with General Motors -- that is a union shop. Does Kentucky want to risk putting the key to its economic engine into the hands of those unions who have pulled companies like General Motors and Ford to their knees?

The problem with the big American auto makers is not much more complicated than union benefits negotiated in less competitive times that now have a stranglehold over those companies as they become less able to soak up excess costs in a new business environment. These companies often can't make small personnel adjustments that could help them ride out temporary slowdowns. With defined-benefit pensions and rich lifetime-guaranteed health insurance plans piling billions of dollars in fixed costs on their balance sheets, American auto makers are watching Toyota eat their lunch in the marketplace.

Unions, it seems, are consumed beyond all reason with their own perpetuation, even as their parasitical nature becomes clear to most people. Their financial support for liberal causes and politicians only manages to decrease their appeal with the public.

And financial support for such causes is what this is all about.

Common sense Right to Work legislation risks the symbiotic relationship between union leaders and Democratic Party politicians. In Kentucky, House Speaker Jody Richards(D-Bowling Green) has been outspoken in his opposition to HB 38. Interestingly, some "conservative" Democrats have been silent on this key economic issue. Polling indicates that 74% of Kentuckians favor a Right to Work law here. Democrats have seen the clear choice between the economic interests of Kentuckians and the union leaders who finance their campaigns. Sadly, they seem to be taking the money and running with it.

Finally, a comparison tale of two states is informative. Tennessee and Kentucky have spent much of their existence sharing similar circumstances. Their trajectories have diverged, however, as Tennessee has offered its citizens the choice to not pay dues to labor unions. As recently as 1969, Kentucky was 44th in per capita disposable income and Tennessee was 42nd. Currently, Kentucky ranks 41st and Tennessee is up to 19th. How much longer do we need to wait before moving onto the right economic track?

At its heart, Right to Work really is about employee choice and employer choice. Employees should be able to work in a business without joining a labor union. The choice they have now is to go to work elsewhere. Companies who want their employees to have that same opportunity have a choice as well. Right now, it is just too easy for those companies to avoid Kentucky. Remembering that ripple effect caused by Toyota, wouldn't it make sense to do all we can to encourage large employers to come here? Providing Right to Work freedom is the least we can do.

Bush, Economy, Liberal Media Bias

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed back to its pre-9/11/01 level and the liberal media is none too happy about it. Thanks to The Locker Room for the heads up on this.

Democrat Response: 2025?! That's Not Even An Election Year!

The most telling aspect of Governor Fletcher's State of the Commonwealth address was in the Democrat response. After hearing the Governor lay out a wide array of short and long-term goals, Sen. Ed Worley and House Speaker Jody Richards couldn't get past the fact that Fletcher mentioned some standards for the state to reach by the year 2025.

"Setting ambitious long-term goals and laying out a vision for gradual improvement was a bold stroke for the Governor," Senator Worley utterly failed to say. Then he did not hasten to add "Democrats just don't have any ideas at all, so we are kind of stuck on whining about minutiae."

The upcoming budget speech is where we will get the real meat, but this was pretty good. The Democrats are just chafed about the Right to Work bill.

Rep. Perry Clark Resigns

Current State Rep. and Senate candidate Perry Clark has resigned his House seat and Speaker Jody Richards has called for a special election the same day as the Senate special.

This will get very interesting very quickly as most special elections usually are solo efforts. How the two campaigns are intertwined will be made more interesting if the Democrats nominate two men and the Republicans nominate two women. I have no speculation on who the Republicans are going to nominate, but would guess that Councilman Ron Weston is will get the nod from the Dems.

UPDATE: Kentucky Kos has picked up the story and is pushing again for Virginia Woodward to get the Dem nomination. Too funny.

But Will Raising Teacher Pay Help Students?

Look for a good old-fashioned bipartisan snow job this winter from our General Assembly on teacher pay in Kentucky. Taxpayers need to call a halt to this before it is too late.

We have heard the teachers' union complain about teacher pay for so long that it has become part of the wallpaper, accepted as true and never scrutinized. But distressingly often when education bureaucrats' statements do face scrutiny, they come up short. A look at some of these statements might give us pause on this hot-button issue.

Just this past August, we heard weeping and wailing about how Kentucky had fallen to 50th in state spending for education under Governor Fletcher. Turned out that Governing Magazine, the first source of this dire statistic, had used 2002 Census Bureau statistics. Stuck on blasting the Governor even for something that happened two years before he took office, some groups such as the Kentucky Economic Justice Alliance, the Kentucky Democratic Party, and most of the state's mainstream media outlets persist in promoting this falsehood today.

This fall I learned gains in ACT scores touted by the Kentucky Department of Education evaporate when private school and home school students are removed from the statistics. Last time I checked, these students didn't fall under the purview of the state's public education system. From a cynical, no-holds-barred point of view, taking credit for something they didn't do might be considered a shrewd piece of work. But coming from government officials who make policy affecting the lives of our children, this is extremely disappointing.

The sorry track record of those who have made careers out of demanding more and more money, coupled with Kentucky's failure to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind student testing component nearly provides the proper context in which to examine the idea of greatly increasing teacher pay.

For help with that, we turn to North Carolina. Researchers at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh sought to examine similar claims of insufficient teacher pay in their state by making an apples-to-apples comparison of all the states. What they found was interesting: North Carolina's national salary ranking of 23rd was corrected to 11th when benefits were added in and relative cost-of-living was figured in. Cost of living is significant in the real world. New Jersey's $53,663 average salary goes roughly 70% as far in New Jersey as it does here in Kentucky. That helps put New Jersey's teachers at the bottom in pay nationally and Kentucky ranks number five.

That's right. Kentucky's teachers are the fifth best paid teachers in the nation. That should have been the education story of the year last year, but chances are excellent that you are seeing it for the first time here.

The current effort in Frankfort to bring Kentucky teacher pay up is said to keep them from escaping to higher salaries in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Georgia. Interestingly, of those states Indiana actually pays less than Kentucky in terms of real dollars. Louisville-area Kentuckians who run across the bridge to teach in the Hoosier state might actually want to take another look at the fringe benefits offered to Kentucky teachers. They make the total compensation here in the Bluegrass higher than that of Indiana. Ohio, Illinois, and Georgia join Michigan as the only states in the nation that have higher average teacher compensation than Kentucky. They all possess better education statistics than we do, but so do nearly all of the states who pay their teachers less than we do. I fail to see how adding enough to move us from #5 to #3 in teacher pay nationally is going to do much to benefit our children, who seem to be faring much worse than their teachers. Maybe they need a students' union.

Before we risk busting the budget with even higher teacher pay, skeptical taxpayers would do well to demand proof that it will actually help student performance commensurate with the high cost being suggested now. Given that Kentucky teacher pay already compares so favorably with other states, perhaps we need to look elsewhere first to improve student benefits.

Debbie Peden For Senate 37

Today Louisville Republicans nominated Debbie Peden to run in the special election February 14 to fill the 37th Senate district seat.

Peden is the wife of Louisville Metro Councilman James Peden and mother of two small girls ages 6 and 3.

She is a first time candidate, but a veteran campaigner for multiple local campaigns. A former teacher, Peden views education as her top priority, followed by affordable healthcare, and bringing more retail shops and jobs into her district.

Asked why she felt qualified to serve in the Senate, she replied that she brings "the voice of an educator, the voice of a woman, and the voice of every resident of the 37th district." She said she plans to run a positive campaign, adding that after the year-long court battle over her distict's representation "we need a Senator."

Power Struggle In River City

Louisville Republicans gather Sunday at 2pm to vote on their candidate for the 37th Senate district special election coming up on Feb 14.

Doug Hawkins and Debbie Peden appear to be the locked in a tough battle for votes.

It is unclear whether a Peden win would actually be some kind of protest against the GOP leadership that has shown strong suport for Hawkins.

Stay tuned...

NBC Doesn't Want Christian Viewers

Nearly all NBC affiliates went ahead and aired the "Book of Daniel" television program Friday night. I have heard WLEX got slammed with complaint phone calls during the episode. Probably not a bad idea to keep that up every Friday at 9 pm.

In fact, I've been thinking about how difficult it would be to just stop watching the network altogether. Law & Order used to be interesting, but of late has fallen back on liberal preaching. What else is there? I can't think of anything good on NBC at all.

What do you think?

Louisville Dems Pick Perry Clark

Breaking News From Louisville: After deliberating nearly three hours, Louisville Democrats picked Rep. Perry Clark to run for the vacant 37th district seat.

Fur Flies In Louisville

Louisville's 37th Senate district electors have been locked in a room for 2 1/2 hours arguing about who will be the Democrats' candidate in the February 14 special election.

What could be keeping them in there so long?

Common Sense Eludes House Democrats, Still

It's a new year, but don't tell Frankfort's House Democrats.

They are partying like it is 2005 all over again.

Last year in their largest policy "achievements" in decades, Washington D.C. Democrats shouted down the discussion about saving Social Security, tried to shut down the war effort, and cried all year to prevent anyone from building oil refineries or drilling in the Alaska wilderness.

Their actions didn't feed any children, as the saying goes, but they sure showed everyone that they aren't completely irrelevant. Great.

Well, Frankfort's own Harry Reid is on a filibuster path of his own.

Asked his position on Right To Work legislation, Speaker Jody Richards said "Our agenda is 'A Commitment to Kentucky Families,' and during the 2006 General Assembly session, we'll be addressing these issues: Educating our children, leading the way to energy relief and independence, preserving our family farms, creating and keeping Kentucky jobs, standing up for Kentucky families, and promoting open and honest government. We invite the governor and Senate Republicans to join us in 'A Commitment to Kentucky Families.'"

In fewer words, Speaker Richards has a "no comment" on economic development. I guess their best idea for last year -- doing nothing, but doing it loudly -- is going to be their plan for 2006.

Great.

KY Democrats Choose Symbolism Over Substance

House Speaker Jody Richards came on Lexington's Kruser & Krew program on WVLK 590 AM to discuss Democrats plans to raise teacher salaries.

What he didn't discuss is that his plan would move Kentucky teachers from 5th highest paid in the nation currently to 3rd. I hope they didn't stay up too late last night crafting that big plan.

Throwing more money at education is the liberal mantra, but if that were the key, Washington D.C. would have the best school system on the planet instead of the worst.

The hapless Richards admitted that the move is nothing more than politics as usual: "It will be a symbol that we are truly trying to raise our educational standards."

Waste, Fraud, and Abuse: "Intelligent Designers" Kill Time Fighting With "Evolutionists"

They haven't yet posted it on their site as I write this, but ACLU of Kentucky is moving to take advantage of the weak push by Republicans to make a wedge issue out of creationism.

ACLU of Kentucky is going to have a public meeting next Wednesday night at Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville. Speakers include two U of L biology professors and one anthropology professor.

I can't believe we are wasting time talking about this when the GOP could very easily take advantage of the wreck that public education in Kentucky has become during so many decades of Democrat control -- as both parties continue to have great ideas like throwing more money at the problem in hopes that it will go away.

Clinton Suspension To End

The five year suspension of Bill Clinton's law license for lying under oath is set to run out in two weeks. He agreed to the suspension on the last day of his term in office in order to avoid prosecution.

"Book Of Daniel" Update: A Crack In The Facade

As word gets out that two NBC affiliates are going to refuse to air the anti-Christian "Book of Daniel" television program, the network is having a bit of a meltdown.

Executive VP of current programming Vivi Ziglar actually said "People are reacting based on not having seen it. They're seeing the advertising, not seeing what the core of the show is."

So which is it, NBC? Is your own marketing of the show (which describes rampant drug abuse and illicit sex by a "Christian" family) meant to be misleading in some way or is the advertising specifically designed to make people not want to watch the show? It would seem that an organization that owes its very existence to advertising would be totally focused on showing "what the core of the show is," right?

Tim Gilbert, President of WLEX (Lexington's NBC affiliate), has said that his station will air the show, but he has said publicly that the show itself is a waste of time. He has seen the first episode, set to air tomorrow night and said "I was so bored I thought 'what am I doing here?'"

KY Democrats Have Their Wedge Issue

House Speaker Jody Richards (D-Bowling Green) should be unveiling Democrats' grand scheme to lock in teachers' union volunteers for their fall campaigns. They are talking about raising teacher salaries in budget-busting fashion.

I'm not surprised to see the party that hears "education priorities" and thinks "money, money, money" ramping up another effort to play to the KEA gallery by talking about 15% pay increases rather than somethiing that would actually improve education in Kentucky.

This only works for them because most people don't realize that Kentucky teachers are not the 34th best paid teachers in the nation as we continue to hear.

They would be, if we ignore both employee benefits and economic reality. In the real world, Kentucky's average teacher pay plus benefits (and figuring in relative cost-of-living expenses), Kentucky's teachers rank 5th best compensated in the nation.

Conservative Versus Moderate In Lexington's 88th

Rep. Bill Farmer (R-Lexington) might have been a little concerned when he noticed that former Lexington city councilman Fred Brown filed to run against him in a rare House Republican primary.

He shouldn't be.

In an interview today, Mr. Brown was asked to explain why he thought he would make a better legislator than Rep. Farmer.

He said,"I am more moderate than the incumbent." He added that he thought Rep. Farmer is an "ultra-conservative."

Looks like a pretty good way to position yourself out of a Republican primary before it even starts. Mr. Brown is well regarded from his years on the council, but 2006 is shaping up as the year of the conservative in Kentucky. Not only are nearly all the House Democrats busily trying to out-conservative each other, but insiders say that Governor Fletcher himself is ready to blaze a more consistently conservative trail through this session.

With any luck, that will mean more for economic policies and less for the goofy intelligent design in schools stuff. I call that lipstick on a pig. Let's not worry so much about the odd biology teacher who wants to make monkeys of all of us. We need school choice and to get serious about school accountability first. And be watching for a school voucher bill.

New Media Swings A Big Stick

Watching the staffers of www.kentuckyvotes.org hold court in the Capitol cafeteria this morning was striking. I saw legislators come by and explain their actions and ask questions about the functions of what is essentially the new sheriff in town.

Expect the House to change some of their voting procedures this year, especially the bum's rush of bills that legislators have to vote on without even reading in the waning days of each session.

When that happens, Kentucky Votes will deserve the credit. Complete legislator voting records will be available online for the 2006 session. Who do you think made that happen? The Herald Leader or the Courier Journal? Nope. It's Kentucky Votes again.

Voter disconnection from the legislative process has long since turned most people off to how our laws are made. Those who thrive in the shadows are hoping you don't embrace the new technology that Kentucky Votes has harnessed.