http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com Covering Kentucky politics and government Tue, 22 May 2012 21:44:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/22/stumbo-seeks-spending-records-for-morehead-state-officials/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/22/stumbo-seeks-spending-records-for-morehead-state-officials/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:24:39 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20656 By Linda B. Blackford lblackford@herald-leader.com The sponsor of a bill to make the University of Pikeville a public school has requested spending records for the president and Board of Regents of Morehead State University, which is vigorously opposing the measure. A Feb. 15 request under the Open Records Act from House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, asks for all records from the past five years showing expenses incurred by Morehead President Wayne Andrews, his staff and all 11 regents. The request asks for expenses related to travel, vacations, conventions, recreation, motor vehicles, country clubs or other memberships and any other items of value. In addition, the request asks for documents related to the “improvement of the educational opportunities” in the 12-county region of southeastern Kentucky that UPike would serve instead of Morehead. Neither Stumbo nor Andrews was immediately available for comment. ]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/22/stumbo-seeks-spending-records-for-morehead-state-officials/feed/ 3 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/21/20642/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/21/20642/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:39:17 +0000 admin http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20642 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/21/20642/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/21/house-panel-modifies-senate-dropout-bill/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/21/house-panel-modifies-senate-dropout-bill/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:35:58 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20634 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/21/house-panel-modifies-senate-dropout-bill/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/16/house-approves-bill-to-raise-dropout-age-to-18/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/16/house-approves-bill-to-raise-dropout-age-to-18/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:54:04 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20605 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/16/house-approves-bill-to-raise-dropout-age-to-18/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/14/university-of-pikeville-hearing-set-for-tuesday/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/14/university-of-pikeville-hearing-set-for-tuesday/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:19:39 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20566 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/14/university-of-pikeville-hearing-set-for-tuesday/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/01/budget-cuts-will-delay-implementation-of-new-core-education-standards/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/01/budget-cuts-will-delay-implementation-of-new-core-education-standards/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:19:04 +0000 Beth Musgrave http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20349 By Beth Musgrave bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — The state’s top education leaders told a legislative panel Wednesday that proposed budget cuts to the Department of Education will delay implementation of new standards called for in a 2009 overhaul of Kentucky’s education system. Terry Holliday, commissioner of the Department of Education, told a House budget subcommittee that cuts proposed under Gov. Steve Besehar’s two-year budget will also mean less money for teacher professional development and less money for technology assistance for local school districts. There also will be no new state money to help some schools that have been deemed low-performing schools. Beshear’s proposed budget does not include cuts to the main funding formula for Kentucky schools, commonly called SEEK, or Support Educational Excellence in Kentucky. However, other parts of the education budget would be cut, including an 8.4 percent cut to administration and technology and a 4.5 percent cut to instruction, assessment and curriculum programs and to the Kentucky School for the Blind and the Kentucky School for the Deaf.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/01/budget-cuts-will-delay-implementation-of-new-core-education-standards/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/01/for-profit-college-regulatory-bill-proceeds-to-house/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/01/for-profit-college-regulatory-bill-proceeds-to-house/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:57:22 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20306 By John Cheves -- jcheves@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT -- The private, for-profit college industry would stop regulating itself at the state level under a bill that a Kentucky House committee approved Wednesday. "This is not everything that we probably all would like to see in the bill, but it is doable and it is a start," said Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, the bill's sponsor. A stronger bill last year was passed by the House but died in the Senate in the face of aggressive industry lobbying. House Bill 308, which proceeds to the full House, would abolish the controversial Kentucky Board for Proprietary Education, which licenses scores of for-profit schools offering two-year associate's degrees, technical certificates and other diplomas in different career fields. Industry representatives hold six of the board's 11 seats and frequently serve as chairman. A state audit last year sharply criticized the board, calling it an inattentive watchdog that fails to protect the interests of students. At the same time, student lawsuits and investigations in Kentucky and elsewhere have raised questions about deceptive marketing and the quality of educations sold by the schools.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/01/for-profit-college-regulatory-bill-proceeds-to-house/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/17/k-12-schools-funding-would-revert-to-2008-levels-colleges-take-another-hit/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/17/k-12-schools-funding-would-revert-to-2008-levels-colleges-take-another-hit/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:14:39 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20164 By Linda B. Blackford lblackford@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — School children may see bigger classes while college students are sure to pay higher tuition under the budget proposed by Gov. Steve Beshear. Beshear said he had protected both K-12 and higher education as long as he could. But next year, basic funding for K-12 students will revert to 2008 levels, while state universities could lose as much as $65 million. Beshear would not cut the K-12 schools' main funding formula, but because there is no new money and more students, spending per student will go down from the planned $3,903 in 2012 to $3,833 in 2013 and $3,827 in 2014. That doesn't count a proposed 4.5 percent cut in 2013 to other educational services, such as family resource centers, extended school services, professional development and technology.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/17/k-12-schools-funding-would-revert-to-2008-levels-colleges-take-another-hit/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/17/house-panel-approves-bill-to-raise-school-dropout-age/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/17/house-panel-approves-bill-to-raise-school-dropout-age/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:39:30 +0000 Jack Brammer http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20129 HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU FRANKFORT – A House panel approved a bill Tuesday that would raise the school dropout age from 16 to 18, beginning in 2017. House Bill 216 now goes to the full House, where it is likely to pass. However, the measure -- pushed by First Lady Jane Beshear -- has an uncertain fate in the Republican-controlled Senate. A similar bill passed the Democratic-controlled House last year but was never heard by the Senate Education Committee. Republicans in the Senate have expressed concerns about the costs of keeping teens who want to drop out in school and the lack of alternative programs for them. Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, has filed a similar bill in the Senate to raise the dropout age. The House bill requires students to attend school until at least age 17, beginning July 1, 2016, unless the student has already completed high school. Beginning July 1, 2017, students must complete high school or stay in school until at least 18.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/17/house-panel-approves-bill-to-raise-school-dropout-age/feed/ 0 http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/16/casinos-no-cure-all-for-state-budgets-economists-say/ http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/16/casinos-no-cure-all-for-state-budgets-economists-say/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:52:33 +0000 Accountability Editor http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/?p=20124 By John Cheves jcheves@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — Faced with another round of state budget cuts, Gov. Steve Beshear promotes casino gambling as a way "to improve our revenues long-term" in Kentucky. But the nearly two dozen states that get revenue from casinos have struggled financially during the past three years, just like everyone else, according to a Lexington Herald-Leader analysis. All of them cut spending; half raised taxes. Some fired thousands of their public workers, including educators and police, and gutted their basic classroom funding. Experts who study gambling's economic impact said Kentucky should be realistic about what it could win. Casinos are a poor substitute for a strong, stable tax base, they said. "Casinos will almost certainly increase your revenue to some extent. But there will be offsets and costs that you also need to consider," said Alan Mallach, a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia.]]> http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/16/casinos-no-cure-all-for-state-budgets-economists-say/feed/ 0