LACK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS COSTING US MONEY?

Much has been made about Kentucky losing out on the Race To the Top funds from the feds. Steve Beshear was actually stupid enough to include these funds as part of his budget even though they had not been approved. Yep great job Gov.

Many have decided to use this as a catalyst for Charter Schools and why not? Current Republican candidate for Governor Phil Moffett has made it a mission of his for years to bring Charter Schools into Kentucky. I am not convinced that this is necessary myself nor am I convinced that it will accomplish all they say it will.

But I do agree we must look at all options to further education available to us. By the way check out Gatewood's plan for higher education here: http://www.gatewood.com it is a pretty interesting read.

What I am convinced of is that those on both sides of the issue will do what they do best. Spin the facts to their heart's content and try to confuse people for their own gain.

One reason this article became necessary today is that there is a fictitious statement going around that Kentucky lost out on the Race To the Top funds because we have no Charter schools. I like Phil overall he is a good guy but I expect better than this from anyone running for office.

According to this article http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/02/1416844/educators-may-ask-to-delay-parts.html some are making the claim that not having Charter Schools cost us this funding. And why make the claim?

Having charter legislation was worth up to 32 points in Race scoring. Kentucky got no points in that category.

Well then that explains it no wonder huh? Except there is more to the story. In fact lack of Charter Schools may have had some impact but it was not the only impact.

Kentucky's final Race score was 412.4 points, 28.4 points behind Ohio, the lowest-scoring state to win Race money. But having charter schools might not have been enough to close that gap, according to the school boards association.

The association said its analysis, posted on KSBA's Web site, shows that no Race winner received a full 32 points for having charter schools, which "seriously calls into question claims that having charters would have guaranteed federal funds for Kentucky."

Oops.

And what did education Deepartment spokesperson Lisa Gross have to say?

"There were several other areas, along with the lack of charter schools, that made it so we could not get funding," she said. "Given what we know now, even if we had charter schools legislation, it's hard to say whether we would have been funded."

And that folks is that. Any questions?