Don't Go Out Like This, Governor Fletcher

Governor Fletcher presented another golden opportunity to the Lexington Herald-Leader today. And they took it.

The Kentucky Board of Education is in dire danger of failing some basic management and economics courses.

The legal spitting contest it has gotten into with the firm that conducted the ill-fated search for a new education commissioner will waste money and shine light on the board's own failure in the search process.

It is outrageous that Governor Fletcher's appointees to the state school board have put on a slapstick act that would shame Larry, Moe, and Curly when all they really needed to do was hire an education commissioner.

Governor Fletcher must step up and demand the Board pay the bill to the crappy search firm whose advice they took despite repeated citizen warnings. Then he must ask himself why we are trusting them on this search when they have given us so little reason to expect them to get it right.

Call off the search, Governor Fletcher.

Should We Pray For Education Accountability?

Last night, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue prayed for rain.

And by tomorrow, rain is what they shall receive.

We really don't need divine intervention in Kentucky to open the skies and pour a little common sense on our education bureaucrats, do we?

Mother Of All Conflicts Of Interest

The Kentucky Department of Education is the worst example of a government agency that regulates -- and grades -- itself.

If we do nothing else, we should eliminate this situation right now.

The Lawyers Are In Charge Now

Rep. Rob Wilkey filed a bill today to shift up to $1.2 million in general fund dollars every month into a fund to pay law school student loan debt for attorneys working in the Attorney General's office and other government-related agencies.

Each lawyer will get up to $6000 a year in state taxpayer money if the bill passes.

On The Air

I will be on the Leland Conway show this morning at 11:15. You can listen here.

Grading The Kentucky Education Reform Act

Education bureaucrats take to the stage and the airwaves tomorrow to answer charges of exaggerating Kentucky's educational improvement under KERA.

Click here and here for the dueling reports at the heart of the controversy.

Ringling Brothers And Barnum & Bailey Was Never This Much Fun To Watch

The lawyers marching into the Fayette County Detention Center today were there to rake jail employees over the coals for various misdeeds. Must have been a treat for the inmates to see the guards running around crying like babies.

Mayor Jim Newberry's office, of course, had no comment.

Dems Loaded For Bear, Right About Ed Commish

Exactly how many headlines do future Republican candidates want about GOP intransigence in favor of a mediocre education commissioner?

Governor Fletcher can call off the hiring process now. He should.

The Soft Underbelly Of Mediocrity In Kentucky

If Governor-elect Steve Beshear really wants to improve efficiency in Kentucky's government, he will rip school accountability out of the hands of the Kentucky Department of Education.

The Bluegrass Institute today proves that our school assessment program, CATS, has been systematically manipulated to show phony educational improvement since 1999.

As an unreliable gauge of progress, the CATS assessment needs to be replaced by more credible tests. In hindsight, it was a mistake to charge the Kentucky Department of Education to both assist school systems in making improvements and be the sole administrator of the assessment system to determine if that effort was successful. A separate agency should be created to manage the assessment of educational progress in Kentucky’s schools.

There is no more important issue for the future of our state than getting a handle on how we manage the education of our children. This battle is not one for the faint of heart.

A Teacher Says It

Gary Yaden, a teacher at North Laurel High School, said a mouthful in a Lexington Herald Leader column:

And nothing will change as long as people don't realize that it is possible to educate only part of the public. The rest are dead weight, placing a huge burden on the schools and preventing other students from achieving their full potential.

We are, instead, hung up on artificially lowering dropout rates by either trying to force the least interested students to stay in school or by actually faking the dropout statistics.

Cowardly Blogger, Go Home

Some anonymous pinhead keeps pushing Larry Forgy to run for the U.S. Senate against Mitch McConnell. That's fine as far as wasting time goes, but while he is busily speaking for himself (and, until we hear differently, Larry) he should leave the Club for Growth out of it.

The half-hearted effort to shoot the wounded Ernie Fletcher in this year's primary should serve as somewhat of a cautionary tale for those who now want to shoot McConnell. Mitch has his flaws, certainly, but a state that just elected Steve Beshear its governor isn't going to do better than McConnell next year.

Let The Senate President Decide

The Louisville Courier-Journal went to the trouble of surveying all the state Senators about a casino gambling bill when they really only needed to talk to one.

David Williams, R-Burkesville: "I'm not going to vote for a bill that will put the casino gaming issue on the ballot."

That really is the end of the story, except to point out how misleading the headline is. "Beshear has shot at casinos in Senate" does not an accurately assess the situation. Besides the "let the people decide" slogan could be more accurately stated "let the Las Vegas casino owners decide." Hardly a populist slogan worthy of a Kentucky governor.

A casino bill in the House would force Speaker Jody Richards to weigh in on the issue against Governor Beshear as well.

School Board Burning, Fletcher Can Put Out Fire

Just when Kentucky's education commissioner hiring debacle looked like it couldn't get any worse, it did.

There is no reason for the outgoing Republican administration to die on this hill. The four finalists in the current search have a combined state leadership experience of exactly zero days. Backing a school board who is now being dragged into court for botching their previous candidate search is not something that is going to benefit the conservative movement in any way.

The Kentucky Department of Education has made a huge mess of our assessment program. That is the battle we should be fighting now and will still be the battle we should be fighting six months from now. The commissioner search can wait. Sticking our necks out now for an under-qualified education commissioner serves no valid purpose whatsoever.

Governor Fletcher, please ask the school board to suspend the hiring process right now.

McConnell: What Fails In Paris, Stays In Paris

Speaking to the Republican State Central Committee meeting this morning, Sen. Mitch McConnell spoke about French President Nicolas Sarkozy. McConnell described him as a French-speaking Ronald Reagan.

McConnell quipped that Sarkozy is now trying to convince the French people that working is good.

And then he said the French are now rejecting the policies American Democrats are trying to implement.

Did I mention the U.S. House just passed a big tax increase yesterday?

Fletcher: Larry, Don't Run

Speaking to the Republican State Central Committee meeting this morning in Lexington, Governor Fletcher publicly stated that no one should run in a primary against Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Good.

Where Was Bill While Hillary Ate "Loose-Meat?"

An Ohio waitress says Hillary Clinton stiffed her and Hillary says she left a tip.

Who do you believe?

ATR: Ben Chandler A Three Time Liar

Ben Chandler promised on January 8, 2004 never to vote for a tax increase if central Kentuckians sent him to represent them in Congress.

Today, Americans for Tax Reform called Rep. Chandler out after breaking his promise the third time.

"I Shoulda Been A Tax Lawyer"

If this Congresswoman from Ohio were a tax lawyer, she would be able to tell you the House just passed an enormous tax increase in the name of "fairness."

And yes, Rep. Ben Chandler and Rep. John Yarmuth voted for it.

Pretend This Is The Back Of A Milk Carton

That's right, embattled Fayette County Detention Center director Ron Bishop is missing. He wasn't at work yesterday while the grand jury was meeting in Covington and he's not there today.

Ronnie, where are you?

Steve Pence Leads The Way

Steve Pence's stock goes way up after the announcement yesterday he will serve on the Beshear transition team.

With the real remaining problems that have festered in Kentucky government for decades, there is no need to wish Governor Beshear ill will. He has his hands full.

Might as well support his efforts, at least in the early going. The crashing sound you will hear soon enough will be his policy wish list smashing up against reality.

What we really need now is a solution to the public employee benefits mess Governor Fletcher tried to address years ago, but got crammed back in his face. Maybe it will take a Democratic governor to get it done.