LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Longtime superintendent Jack Moreland
ranks the state's 1990 education reform law as the "high water
mark" for Kentucky public education. In more recent times, he
said, the state's commitment to schools has wavered somewhat, which
worries him.
"The powers that be, whoever that is, will have to take a
strong look at revitalizing that commitment, or we're going to wind
up being an also-ran," said Moreland, superintendent of the
Covington Independent school system in northern Kentucky.
Moreland and other educators say the winner of Kentucky's Nov. 6
gubernatorial election will face plenty of challenges to fully
restore the momentum of the early and mid-1990s in those heady days
when the Kentucky Education Reform Act was enacted and implemented.
Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who is seeking re-election, and
Democratic challenger Steve Beshear laid out their plans to improve
education in responding to an AP questionnaire.
Moreland said the state should put more emphasis on early
childhood education and review the school-aid formula and
accountability system. Most issues boil down to money, and schools
need more of it to meet lofty expectations for student performance,
he said.
In 1994, 48 percent of the state's general fund budget went to
the kindergarten-through-12th grade public system, according to the
state Department of Education. By 2002, the percentage of state
assistance had slipped to 41 percent, but was up to 44 percent this
year.
Fletcher, meanwhile, touts higher state education funding,
improved teacher salaries and better student test scores as
accomplishments during his first term.
"This funding has not just gone blindly into the system, but to
establish better tools of accountability," Fletcher said, adding
it will help parents track their children's performance and enable
educators to intervene with struggling students "before it's too
late."
Beshear said his goal is to make preschool available to every 3-
or 4-year-old Kentucky child on a voluntary basis. Currently, the
state limits its preschool funding to those children meeting
disability or family income guidelines.
Beshear initially wants to raise income qualifications to 200
percent of the federal poverty level - or $41,300 for a family of
four - so more Kentuckians can enroll their children in a
state-subsidized, half-day preschool program. He eventually wants
to make it available to children from higher-income families, which
would pay fees on a sliding scale.
Beshear also said he wants to "redesign high schools,"
providing more opportunities for students to take advanced
placement courses while enhancing education standards and
developing early interventions for students deemed dropout risks.
"We need more kids graduating from high school, and with higher
skill sets and more sophisticated levels of learning," Beshear
said.
Beshear said he wants to help larger schools convert to smaller
"schools within schools," saying that students "learn better in
smaller schools and smaller classrooms."
Fletcher and Beshear disagree on whether to single out certain
teachers for bonuses.
"I have proposed additional teacher compensation that rewards
teachers for doing additional work to improve student
achievement," Fletcher said.
In this year's General Assembly session, Fletcher backed
legislation that would have provided cash bonuses to teachers whose
students did well in AP exams in calculus, physics and chemistry,
as well as incentives for such teachers with high scores on
certification tests. The legislation failed to win final passage.
Fletcher said he supports tuition assistance for teachers going
back to school to become accredited in certain subjects, or tuition
forgiveness for teachers working in those subjects.
Beshear took a different approach, saying that "valuing the
subjects taught by teachers differently in terms of pay seems to
create more problems than it solves."
Beshear said he wants to expand distance learning and called for
a comprehensive review to make the education system more efficient
by updating and revamping outdated programs.
Fletcher also touted the "Read to Achieve" program championed
by his wife, Glenna. He said the reading-assistance efforts are
"creating wonderful success stories. The governor said another
goal is for teacher pay in Kentucky to gain parity with surrounding
states.
There have been signs of improvement in Kentucky education in
recent years.
Since 1999, Kentucky students have shown across-the-board
improvement in reading and math, based on higher scores in the
Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS.
Kentucky fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores have been
outperforming the national average. In math, the Kentucky scores
have improved but lag behind the national average.
"In math, we've got a lot of work to do, and we know that,"
said Lisa Gross, a state Department of Education spokeswoman.
Scores on the American College Test improved slightly for
Kentucky high school seniors who started college this fall, but the
state average of 20.7 was below the 21.2 national average.
Still, Marion County schools Superintendent Roger Marcum worries
Kentucky has lost momentum of the early to mid-1990s, when he said
KERA put the state at the national forefront.
"Since that time, we have not been progressing," he said.
"And anytime you are not progressing, you're usually going
backward."
Marcum agrees the current state budget was the best in some time
for education, but said much of the additional money went for
salary increases, health care and retirement benefits. Improved pay
and benefits are important to retain and attract teachers, he said,
but added, "To what extent does that provide services for
children."
Marcum said he considers education at a crossroads in Kentucky,
and that policymakers need to restore state funding to levels in
the years right after KERA was written.
"We're either going to begin to move forward again, or we're
going to continue to go backward. And we can't afford that," he
said. "Our kids have one opportunity at a quality education. Once
they pass through school, if they don't get it, guess what, they
never will."

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)