Sexton: Leave Destruction Of Schools To Us

Bob Sexton, a Kentucky education expert, worries that amateurs may be trying to mess up the state's public schools by changing the testing program.

"Changes in the accountability system we know from experience can be extremely disruptive to teaching and learning," said Bob Sexton, president of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a school-advocacy group based in Lexington.

He should know. He was a big part of the crowd who gave us last year's extremely disruptive testing experience.

CATS has already been destroyed, Mr. Sexton. An outside test that the Kentucky Department of Education can't manipulate is our best opportunity for real assessment now.

Making Consumers Pay For Not Being Builders

House Bill 565 subsidizes home builders who have a new property that sits completed but unsold for more than a year.

The property tax break the builders get from this bill comes at the expense of other taxpayers. Those of us who don't build houses on spec probably avoid that line of work to avoid the market risk, don't you think?

I know it is a common practice by now, but this effort to pick winners and losers in the marketplace is not something we need to do.

Senate Smokes Out Educrats

Senate Bill 1, filed today, would do away with the worst part of the Kentucky Department of Education's reign of terror, the CATS testing program.

The CATS program has been terrible because it has wasted millions of dollars without providing the information teachers need to actually help students. CATS has served primarily to make the education establishment look good.

This bill will save lots of money and increase accountability for the bureaucrats who wield way too much power in Frankfort. This is a great move by Senate President David Williams and one to which the House will have little legitimate resistance.

One point from the Lexington Herald Leader coverage speaks volumes about where we are with Big Education in this state. The Senate leaders did not discuss the bill with Education Commissioner Jon Draud.

Skippy Miller Act Of 2008

Tomorrow at noon the Senate State and Local Government committee will advance SB 14, a bill to disband the state Treasurer's office in honor of former Treasurer Jonathan "Skippy" Miller.

Miller's shrewd use of the office for eight years propelled the effort to prevent future politicians from using it in a similar manner.

Kentucky Can't Tax, Can't Afford Junkies

Did you know Kentucky is one of twenty one states which unconstitutionally taxes possession of illegal drugs?

Since our Attorney General isn't going to be spending any of his time harassing the Governor, he should urge the legislature to pull this off the books before the courts make us do it.

Then we can save some money by encouraging welfare recipients to get off drugs or risk being made to get off welfare.

Finally, Some Meaningful Action In Frankfort

This afternoon, the Senate is expected to pass HB 18. The bill has been amended to include the provisions of SB 3, which would end the common practice of legislators going on strike each election year during the first month of the General Assembly. It would also make Kentucky a Super Tuesday state in presidential primaries.

Now the Senate needs to amend the House Finance and Administration Cabinet reorganization bill to include government expenditure transparency.

Time To Decide If Kentucky Is A Sanctuary State

Indiana advanced an illegal immigration bill today similar to the HB 304 House Judiciary Chair Kathy Stein is bottling up.

If Indiana runs off their illegal aliens and Kentucky does nothing, are we prepared to accept them all? It's not like they will be moving north, where it is colder.

Lexington Jail Still On Double-Secret Probation

Just when you thought the madness at the Fayette County Detention Center couldn't get any worse, a jail employee pursuing sexual harassment charges against Captain Dwight Hall has received a death threat via telephone while at work.

Upon investigation, it was determined the phone call also originated from within the facility.

This is part of what the caller said:

"Shut your mouth you stupid whore or else you are going to pay."

Former Mayor Teresa Isaac and Mayor Jim Newberry are being sued for their roles in covering up scandals in the jail.

Not Just For Jody Richards

A bill to expand the charter school concept in Kentucky beyond the one illegal program Speaker Jody Richards slipped into the 2006 budget should be introduced this week.

Charter schools function like public schools except they don't have to operate under the same bureaucracy as regular public schools. Further, they face real accountability and can be shut down if they don't produce substantial results.

Kentucky is one of only four states whose education bureaucracy has persisted in denying school choice to parents. Also, the bill will show how charter schools can be run for much less money than the one in Speaker Richards' district.

Identifying The Problem, Ignoring Solutions

Louisville Courier Journal columnist Jill Johnson Keeney complained today about, of all things, the structure of state government in Kentucky:

This is a terrible system we have in Kentucky, where a governor takes office in December and less than a month later is expected to have a staff assembled, a budget prepared, and be ready with proposals for correcting major problems and advancing the state.

A little digging might have helped her find three possible answers to this question:

Limiting the scope of legislative sessions, for example, is the subject of two bills filed by Senate Republicans and one filed by a House Republican.

The bills are here, here, and here.

Without any better ideas, the nattering nabobs should really take a closer look at some of the proposed solutions already out there.

Kentucky's Least Accountable Department

If we were serious about cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in Frankfort, we couldn't find a better place to start than the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE).

Just the latest example of their handiwork is another screw-up affecting the disastrous CATS testing:

This means that Kentucky students (some as young as 9-years old) will be asked to do one thing...but will be assessed on something else - some secret rubric. How is a student to know which questions have a secret rubric, and which do not? What are the ethics of penalizing students for following instructions?

Kentucky School News and Commentary has the whole story.

Have to wonder how much longer we can afford the luxury of not paying much attention to our education bureaucrats.

Leadership Vacuum In Frankfort Red Light District

It has been two days since Governor Steve Beshear introduced his stillborn casino plan. If the House Democrats had the votes to pass it, it would be worthy of serious discussion. But they don't.

The real story in all this mess is the ideological split in House leadership. The House Democratic caucus has ceased to function and is ripe for a serious shake-up.

While they sort that out, though, the rest of the state has serious needs that are being ignored.

Busting Kentucky out of its welfare mentality can get started by getting serious about illegal immigration and drug-abusing welfare recipients. We need to cut back on the political feeding trough mentality, too, on the way to reforming public employee pension plans before they break the state. Governor Beshear said he will introduce a pension reform plan next week. He really needs to reverse his growing string of policy missteps by getting this one right.

The term "public employee" should suggest those who earn their living through the government work for us, but as their benefits gets more out of hand, we wind up working harder for them. This trend needs to be reversed a whole lot more than we need to sit around watching debate on a revenue scheme that stands no chance of passage.

We can't improve the state by putting up with the same nonsense.

Please Read Bluegrass Policy Blog

I really kind of get a kick out of telling people that I blog for a living.

KentuckyVotes.org, my main gig, is a blog. You can make comments about bills and respond to other comments. If you haven't already gone on there and set up an account to receive daily updates, feel free to do so. That is getting to be a pretty interesting community.

Bluegrass Policy Blog is another thing I do. Usually that is an expansion of bill descriptions that don't really fit KyVotes or just observations about other things going on. It is less political than Kentucky Progress, but if you like this site, you should like that one as well.

Have a great weekend. I'll be on here and Bluegrass Policy Blog posting regularly, as I do seven days a week.

Keep in touch.

Another House Dem Tax Increase Bill

HB 538 makes permanent a tax increase on retailers slipped into the 2006 budget. Rep. Sannie Overly is the lead sponsor, but this one has Rep. Harry Moberly's fingerprints all over it.

Cut The Local Government Secrecy

It is just about time to stop looking for a magic treasure chest of state government revenues and get serious about ways to cut spending and reducing government to a more affordable level. Requiring local governments to post their budget ordinances online is a good step in that direction. Easing the process of comparing what our local governments are spending their money on is a critical part of making government more accountable to the people.

An amendment filed yesterday to this bill would make that a reality.

A Nuclear Power Plant? In Kentucky?

A bill filed today would make it easier for an application to build a nuclear power plant to succeed in Kentucky.

Does the fact that I have two children studying to go into nuclear engineering color my opinion of this bill? You betcha.

And lest you think this bill won't even get a hearing, check this out: it has a Senate twin.

Talk Show Talking

I went up to Northern Kentucky last week and chatted with Pat Crowley on his television show about some of the goings on in Frankfort.

Here it is.

If We Blow Enough Sunshine Up Its Butt, Do You Think It Might Start To Glow?

The casino amendment:

"Are you in favor of increasing state financial support for elementary and secondary education, expanding health care for senior citizens, children and others, support for local governments, and combating drug and alcohol abuse and other important programs by permitting the General Assembly to authorize up to five casinos subject to approval of the voters in the city or county where the casino is located; and up to seven casinos licenses for existing horse racing associations, all of which will be subject to the approval of a state agency created to oversee casino gaming."

Kentucky To Outlaw Mountain Dew?

Two dental professionals testifying to the House Health and Welfare Committee just stated "Mountain Dew Mouth" looks a lot like "Methamphetamine Mouth."

A couple of legislators off camera immediately made comments suggesting that Mountain Dew be made illegal.

Now THAT would get more people interested in the political process.

Brandon Spencer Gets Paid By Greg Stumbo

Remember when Rep. Brandon Spencer, an ambulance company executive, had an epiphany and decided he didn't want his House seat as much as he wanted to give it to the ever eager Greg Stumbo?

Today we saw the pay off for Mr. Spencer.