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Bypassing school choice a wrong turn for Kentucky
By:
Dr. Jefferson G. Edgens
Kentucky’s education establishment is close to circumventing President Bush’s
“No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law, while closing off parental choice in the
process.
Some Frankfort bureaucrats and school boards across the Commonwealth appear to
be deliberately dragging their feet in order to avoid complying with NCLB, which
requires states to ensure that each public school student is academically
proficient by 2014. NCLB also requires schools to meet yearly goals that are
stepping stones toward the goal of proficiency within a decade.
Schools that fail to achieve their goals for two consecutive years could lose
students and the federal government funding that accompanies them. By allowing
parents to remove their children from these failing schools, NCLB introduces
accountability – the measure most needed to improve Kentucky’s mediocre
education system.
Tragically, the state’s education bureaucracy is staunchly entrenched in a
Herculean effort to deny Kentucky families the NCLB option to choose where their
children can receive the best education.
One way this is being done is by delaying the release of test scores by nearly
six months. School principals do not receive the results of the tests, which are
given in the spring, until the following mid-September and then are prohibited
from releasing results to the public until the first week of October. Does it
really take six months to grade these tests, or could there be some intent
behind the delay?
If parents with children in failing schools do not receive timely feedback, they
face the unpleasant task of asking their children to switch schools in the
middle of the year – often around the holidays. Not making this difficult
decision means their children must suffer through another school year of
unsatisfactory education. Shortening this testing cycle is a worthy goal.
But perhaps worse than playing games with the testing calendar is the
maneuvering by the education establishment that could force some of Kentucky’s
best schools to close. In Breathitt County, the very existence of the Jackson
Independent schools is being threatened by a duel over student contracts that
historically have offered parents a choice between contrasting districts.
Of all areas for this to occur, this should not be happening in eastern Kentucky
– a region that needs as much educational improvement as it can get.
Because of its continuously improving educational program, the Jackson
Independent school system has attracted hundreds of students previously enrolled
in the Breathitt County system. More than 300 children who formerly attended
Breathitt County schools are now enrolled in the Jackson district.
In the past, Breathitt County’s superintendents and school boards have always
signed reciprocal agreements that allow state government funding to travel with
transferring students to their new districts. However, with the NCLB law ready
to shine its bright light of educational accountability on dimly lit schools,
Breathitt officials have a right to be concerned. If left to discerning parents,
the trickle of money that has been flowing to the Jackson schools may soon
become a tidal wave.
The Jackson system met all 10 of its target goals in 2003, was accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and was named one of the top-10
most improved school districts in Kentucky. Breathitt County schools have not
performed nearly as admirably.
Jackson’s middle school students led the way by achieving a CATS score of 89.6
(out of 100) in reading versus a score of 63.2 for Breathitt’s students.
Breathitt County High School met only six of its 12 target goals and was listed
among Kentucky’s “bottom 20 high schools” of 2003 by the Lexington
Herald-Leader.
By refusing to sign transfer agreements, Breathitt County officials threaten the
very existence of the Jackson school system. To continue its operation, Jackson
Independent depends on the funding that follows transfers, who comprise a large
part of Jackson’s student population.
Breathitt County’s refusal to agree to the transfers this year means the Jackson
district faces the next school year with $300,000 less in its checkbook. As a
result, Jackson would graduate its final class in the spring of 2005.
Then what choice would Breathitt County’s parents have?
Jackson officials appealed to the Kentucky Board of Education after Gene Wilhoit,
the state’s education commissioner, refused to intervene. The state board will
hear Jackson’s appeal April 7 in Frankfort, but the board’s staff has already
recommended that Jackson Independent’s doors be closed. Their reasoning: “The
ruling complies with statutes and regulation.”
The Kentucky state school board should instead embrace the opportunity to show
their admiration for a shining example of the Kentucky Education Reform Act’s
efforts to improve education and insist that taxpayers’ money should follow the
discretion of concerned parents.
Dr. Edgens is an adjunct scholar for the Bluegrass Institute for Public
Policy Solutions
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