tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post5756702065482469392..comments2023-11-03T04:00:24.785-04:00Comments on Kentucky School News and Commentary: Charter schools may have to wait, Bevin saysRichard Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14586435007687942849noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-22217772653270591092016-01-05T22:40:10.697-05:002016-01-05T22:40:10.697-05:00Granted Jefferson County does have a large number ...Granted Jefferson County does have a large number of schools in the bottom 50 per last assessment cycle (EL - 16, MS - 14 and HS -12) but why Fayette, another urban location which has far fewer schools in the bottom 50 (EL - 6, MS - 3 and HS - 1)? <br /><br />Wouldn't it make more sense from a research stand point to include some rural districts? I realize that a lot of it has to do with politics and the urban competition between Lex and Louisville but I imagine that if charters were to work in Jefferson County, they would probably work in Lexington. <br /><br />I know I am showing my bias but having spent a fair amount of time in both Fayette Schools as well as multiple rural Appalachian schools, I am wondering how Southeastern Kentucky kids are ever going to SOAR if we keep ignoring how inequitable education is funded in outlying rural Kentucky. Seems like we are just spending more time and resources on big districts that have much deeper pockets and community resources, universities, etc at their disposal when the small rural districts have the very same problem regarding student performance. How long are we going to ignore the poorest counties in our state (and even the nation) - Knot, Harlan, Bell, Clay, Breathitt, Owsley, Jackson, Knox, Perry, Lee and Leslie districts - all with collectively just as many schools in the bottom 50 and all with in about 75 square miles of one another?<br /><br />As for "charter districts", I don't see any of the counties giving up control of their districts to some outside vendor any more than Jefferson or Fayette County Board offices would do so. I think we have seen how that has gone over when KDE tries to take over entire districts.Bringyoursaddlehomehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12266891355734317864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-86504081808228008142016-01-03T17:46:13.799-05:002016-01-03T17:46:13.799-05:00RE: Bringyoursaddlehome
A major chunk of the very...RE: Bringyoursaddlehome<br /><br />A major chunk of the very lowest performing schools in the state actually are in Jefferson County, so if we are going to do a pilot, that is a logical place to focus.<br /><br />So far as small districts go, there is such a thing as a "Charter School District" in some other states and this might be an attractive option for Kentucky, too. Richard Inneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14892409111799693983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5776587.post-3619938386438337192016-01-01T22:48:07.724-05:002016-01-01T22:48:07.724-05:00As I said in a post months ago, why are we even ta...As I said in a post months ago, why are we even talking about charter school legislation for the state. Even this proposed pilot is only focused on the two elephants in the room. Most of the schools with SES gap issues aren't located in Jefferson and Fayette County School. How and under what incentive is an outside vendor going to set up a charter school in Lee, Breathitt, Fulton, Owsley or any of the other counties in this state that suffer from low SES popluation, geographic isolation and very limited resources from which to draw? Lexington and Louisville resources and revenues are going to draw the vendors, not Beattyville, Fulton or Jenkins. We are setting ourselves up for a very different gap which is already developing when it comes to teacher salaries between the urban counties and rural counties. This is only going to create greater gap between the haves and have nots of our Commonwealth.Bringyoursaddlehomehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12266891355734317864noreply@blogger.com