Daily Independent gets it Half Right

Interesting commentary in the Daily Independent about the necessity of leading when one can still make a difference. Too bad it's only semi-accurate.

I can't defend Governor Beshear on this one.

I thought I heard in his his State of the Commonwealth speech the beginnings of an outline for a new tax structure based first on efficiency, and second on opening the state to new sources of revenue from the growing services sector. But, I was wrong. It was just language.

Then I thought the governor must have taken the oft-repeated advice former governors give to new governors to "just pick one or two things" and stick to them. He chose a (failed) casino gambling effort, as he said he would, and as a result, arrived too late to the dance. But, maybe I'm just making excuses.

What I can't understand, however, is why Education Commissioner Jon Draud being lumped in with Beshear on this issue?

Draud - even as a northern Kentucky Republican representative to the House - said early and often that Kentucky's schools were underfunded. His former legislative colleagues understood very well his support for so-called "sin taxes" which he repeatedly called a no-brainer. When the first spat broke out this term over raising revenues, Draud stuck to his guns and asked the legislature to quit playing politics with funding for Kentucky's school children. They didn't.

I know Draud has that big R on his chest, but his record on school funding is clear, consistent and unequivocal.

Let's not misidentify the real enemies of public schooling in Kentucky. There is a world of difference between the position of Draud and say, Senate President David Williams.

This from the Ashland Daily Independent:

Belated criticism

Like governor, Draud waited too long

to comment on budget

It is too bad that Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud waited until after the General Assembly had approved the biennium budget to complain about a lack of adequate funding for elementary and secondary schools. If he had been more free with his opinions while the budget was being debated, perhaps the former Republican House member could have convinced his former colleagues to be more open toward increasing funding for schools by at least imposing the modest 25-cent-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax supported by the House-approved budget.

But now that it is too late to change the budget, Draud says Kentucky needs additional revenue — a.k.a. a tax hike — to handle its financial woes. “

This is not so much about financial support as it is about a philosophy that children are important and that their education should be our primary concern,” said Draud, the former superintendent of the tiny Ludlow Independent School District.

According to a review by the Council for Better Education, the budget would cut funding for grades kindergarten through high school by $2 million in the next fiscal year. It would provide $86 million more in the following fiscal year, according to the group’s report.

Draud said a number of programs would be affected, including extended school services, professional development for teachers and school safety.

The approved budget “requires hard decisions by our public school administrators and this agency,” Draud said. “Which children will get the help they need? How are teachers going to get additional training? What happens to the momentum that many schools are experiencing on the road to proficiency and what about those schools that are struggling?”

Why did Draud wait until now to publicly ask such questions? The commissioner of education should be a leader who boldly advocates for the good of the children of this state. Yet one reason the new budget is so lean is the adamant opposition of Republicans in the Senate to any increase in taxes. As a former Republican legislator, Draud could have had some influence with those senators even though he never served in the Senate.

We find it disheartening that Gov. Steve Beshear, Draud and other leaders waited until it was too late to complain about a budget that they knew was inadequate. The time to lead is when you can still make a difference.