Here we go again
The Kentucky Department of Education has released the names of the three finalists to be the state's next education commissioner. Guess what? They're all from outside the state.
After the passage of KERA and under the leadership of the first appointed commissioner, Tom Boysen, Kentucky's schools became a great liberal educational laboratory and our students were the guinea pigs and lab rats.
Surely there was a talented educator from inside the Bluegrass State that could lead the commonwealth's public school system without perpetuating the KERA disaster.
Even though we agree with Melinda Wheeler's desire to eliminate the state treasurer as an elected position, along with most of the constitutional offices, we wonder if it isn't time to go back to electing our chief school leader. At least that way we'd get a Kentuckian instead of someone who will play around with our kids' schooling.
posted by K-Pac II @ 12:15 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Pac: Whether it's an in-state or out-of-state subversive, the end result is still the slide from bad to worse. Only school choice and expansion of the home-schooling movement will make a difference. (Given the right leader - see below for the bleak prospects on that - the creation of a few truly unique charter schools could also help out.)
Fletcher, who has sufficient background to understand why education is failing, has refused to muster the courage to take on the vested interests. This is a major reason why I really don't feel sorry for him in his political troubles. Northup would do no better, and it's an open question whether Harper would surround himself with the right advisors to get a clue on truly reforming KERA, but he at least seems open to listening to innovative ideas and is motivated by years of seeing unskilled employees firsthand.
You might try to have an open mind and not prejudge the applicants before you know anything about them. I assure you, they certainly are not all liberal. Just being from a particular place certainly doesn't qualify you one way or another for any job, including that of an educator.
Anon 11:57, we know that, and it's true we don't know their philosophies. We just find it very hard to believe that out of all the people in the world, the State Board of Education believes there is no Kentuckian qualified to lead his or her state's own schools.
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