The Prichard Committee Town Forums, 1984.

Kentucky's second successful effort to generate broad public support for better schools came from the Prichard Committee. Since that time the Prichard Committee has trained numerous citizens across the state for leadership in the schools through the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership. But if there is an emerging ground swell of local activism for adequate schools, it is not readily apparent.

This from Each Child, Every Child: The Story of the Council for Better Education, Equity and Adequacy in Kentucky's Schools.

On October 15, 1984, two weeks after the official announcement that Bert Combs would be representing the Council for Better Education, The Prichard Committee launched its first Town Forum. The Kentucky Educational Television network broadcast the forum statewide with introductions by Governor Martha Layne Collins, former Governor Bert Combs, Robert Sexton from the Prichard Committee and State Superintendent, Alice McDonald. After the broadcast introductions at KET, “Governor Collins drove to the forum in Lexington and wound up on the covers of all the newspapers because they took a great picture of her (with Sexton’s 7-year old son).”[1] The strategy worked like a charm. According to Sexton,

I think that what it did, as a political activity, was very successful. We were able to say that about 20,000 people came out. They were located in, I think it was 145 different locations. They represented all of the school districts in the state.

The way the Press carried it was that it was this massive outpouring for better schools. The Press really played along with this. The Press from the beginning said this is a very important part of this movement. Governor Collins immediately began to plan her next move. …She put together a statewide tour, got all of the former governors and other political people and celebrities and they had a helicopter and bus tour to 10 or 15 county seats to talk up the need to improve Kentucky education. So she really took charge. She started really getting energized and came forward with a reform program in 1985.[2]

After the Prichard Committee’s Town Forum, Governor Collins indicated that a special session of the General Assembly would be called for 1985. There was general agreement among members of the Council for Better Education that any suit should wait, thus giving the legislature an opportunity to fund the power equalization program to a more appropriate level.

Action to initiate the suit was temporarily suspended. The Council issued a memorandum to members of the General Assembly, stating that the contemplated test of the Kentucky system of school finance in the state court was being done without malice and that the action was intended to help define the state role in providing an efficient system of schools. But the message was clear: that the Council urged serious consideration be given to its concerns if such a suit was to be avoided.[3]
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Of course, the special session proved less successful than was hoped. Within 5 years, the court would declare the entire system of schools to be unconstitutional. But a grassroots network of concerned citizens had been formed and would ultimately contribute to the political will to improve the schools.
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[1] Robert Sexton, Interview with Catherine Fosl. Tape Recording. 10 October 2000. Oral History Collection, University of Kentucky.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Council for Better Education, memorandum to The Kentucky General Assembly, 19 June 1984.