KY Parents for school choice will rally Saturday, Feb. 27 in Knox County
Bluegrass Institute stands with Knox Co. parents
(CORBIN, Ky.) – Supporters of public school choice hope a planned rally for Saturday [Feb. 27] at Grace on the Hill Church at 2 p.m. (eastern) will send a clear message to Knox County officials, who recently ended a longstanding reciprocal agreement with the Corbin Independent Schools.
“This is an information meeting,” said Jim Lacefield, a local business owner who has announced his decision to run for Knox County school board. “We want to inform voters in this area what is happening in their school district and let them know that the civil rights of children are being violated – not only here but across the commonwealth.”
The reciprocal agreement, which was recently cancelled by the Knox County school board, will affect more than 400 students who had taken advantage of the agreement to attend higher academic-performing schools in the smaller Corbin Independent District, which relies on the SEEK funding that follows students who transfer.
The Knox County board’s decision could result in the loss of more than $1.5 million for the Corbin district. It also requires parents who live in the county district to pay tuition – on top of their current school and property tax dollars – in order to send their children to the neighboring district this fall.
Similar situations have occurred in other parts of the state, including Murray, where more than 1,000 students and families have been affected in recent years by the Calloway County school board’s decision to end its reciprocal agreement in the mid-2000s.
Sandy Morgan, a Murray parent who helped lead the effort to maintain the Murray/Calloway agreement encouraged Corbin parents, saying “their kids are worth it.”
“If you don’t stand up and fight now, yet another independent district will be starved and taken over,” Morgan said. “There will be no legacy of those schools left.”
Also speaking at Saturday’s rally will be Pastor Jerry L. Stephenson, minister of the Midwest Church of Christ in inner-city Louisville and chairman of the Kentucky Education Restoration Alliance (KERA), a group committed to reforming public education by offering parents choices across the state.
“Saturday’s rally is yet another opportunity to show that the challenges presented by Kentucky’s public education system do not just affect urban areas,” Stephenson said.
“The thing that we see happening throughout this state is that parents, religious leaders, business leaders and communities – are coming together as one voice saying that children’s education must be a priority in this state,” Stephenson said. “From Paducah in the west to Corbin and the mountaintops of eastern Kentucky and to Bowling Green in the south and Louisville to the north, a change in priority of education must occur. School choice for parents must happen now.”
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For more information and comment, contact Jim Waters at (270) 782-2140.
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