Last night Governor Steve Beshear released a statement about Kentucky’s road plan: “My administration has worked closely with leaders of both the House and Senate in this process, and I am pleased that the road plan is moving forward. I believe this plan appropriately uses federal stimulus dollars to get Kentuckians back to work. This plan also creates a state stimulus effort through the use of a $400 million bond issue. This newly available debt capacity, added to the federal stimulus money, allows us to invest in projects with long-term benefits for the commonwealth. Our financial experts have carefully analyzed this bond issue and are comfortable with the debt capacity limits. Our financial experts will work closely with the Transportation Cabinet to manage the new bond authorization within our existing debt affordability guidelines.” [Press Release]
Struggling with foreclosure? The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act comes at no cost to the taxpayer and was unveiled two days ago. The legislation makes it easier for lenders and homeowners to modify existing mortgages. People like Congressman John Yarmuth voted to support the plan. Because one in six Kentucky homeowners owes more money than their house is worth. [Financial Stability dot Gov]
Is anyone else surprised that Frankfort is more worried about the road plan than than the welfare of Kentucky families? We “can’t afford” (thanks, Governor) to keep kids in school until they’re 18, can’t afford to have life-saving knowledge for athletic programs and equipment in schools, can’t afford to have nurses in schools. But we can afford eleventy billion dollars in the road plan, can afford giving money to NASCAR and can afford incentives for companies paying $9 per hour without benefits. [Mark Hebert]
After all that hubbub Jim Gooch made over holding a hearing to investigate storm damage and the Public Service Commission, nothing happened. PSC officials showed up and only Robin Webb asked a question– one that had nothing to do with the hearing. Gooch didn’t ask a single question. And no one on the committee was educated about anything that reporters were able to familiarize themselves with rather quickly. Are you surprised that we have such ignorance running Frankfort? Another glaring reason for the ouster of embarrassment Jim Gooch. [More from Hebert]
Remember the ugly ZAP electric car? The company that promised to produce them in Kentucky is now dead in the water. [C-J]
Thanks to Debby Yetter, we have the names of the ten Senators who voted in support of SB68 (Neal and Clark were absent, though their votes clearly wouldn’t matter): Carol Gibson, DEMOCRAT Ray Jones, DEMOCRAT Mike Reynolds, DEMOCRAT Jerry Rhoads, John Schickel, Dan Seum, Katie Stine, Jack Westwood, Bob Stivers (who said he wanted to table the bill on several occasions because he “didn’t support wedge issues”) and Gary Tapp. [">Debby Yetter]
The GOP’s battle over Jim Bunning has made the New York Times. [NY Times]
If you missed it: watch Jon Stewart take down CNBC. [Consumerist]
21 responses so far ↓
1 David Adams // Mar 6, 2009 at 9:03 am
There is a big difference between keeping kids in school and forcing them to stay there. And pretending that forcing some to stay there just as they are getting big enough to cause serious disruptions will somehow improve educational outcomes is just silly.
We’re all ready graduating too many people with no marketable skills. Devoting more resources to increase that number is pretty hard to justify.
2 jake // Mar 6, 2009 at 9:06 am
Yeah, there are just SO many big, mean kids causing disruptions.
What planet are you living on, David? You’re absolutely full of it. Kids are disruptions by nature. From like age 2. And they remain that way.
Fact of the matter is most kids don’t even begin to have a sense of maturity until they hit 17 or 18. And that’s a crucial point in life. A point in life where a student who has been unruly in the past just might wake up and want to do something with their life. I watched it happen with about 90% of my graduating class.
Your argument is bunk, as usual, with anything you have said, ever, with the exception of the Lexington jail.
3 David Adams // Mar 6, 2009 at 9:33 am
On my planet employers complain that high school graduates too frequently can’t complete basic tasks. It just doesn’t make any sense to say that we are going to improve that situation by forcing kids to stay in school beyond age 16. I’ve seen kids wake up in 11th or 12th grade too, but our bigger problem is that we are rewarding incompetence with diplomas. It’s much more important that we return the focus to making a high school diploma mean something than that we force more diplomas of limited value and meaning on the least willing students.
4 Mike // Mar 6, 2009 at 9:59 am
we had a high school Principal who was telling students they might as well drop out of school because they were never going to make it to graduation, my daughter was one of them she sent a copy of her college diploma when she graduated
5 Always Amazed // Mar 6, 2009 at 10:25 am
School success is a balancing act between school support, parent (or adult) support, and student motivation. Students are motivated when they think that the task at hand is obtainable and that they have the resources to accomplish it. Students are motivated when they have the supports and services required to do the job.
Students don’t have the wisdom at 15 to know that dropping out at 16 is more dire for them than continuing to attend a school that is not providing them the support and reasources they need. Heck, most adults aren’t wise enough to discern that in their 20′s because that sounds flat crazy!
Don’t be stupid people. Kids need to stay in school until they graduate. But we also need to provide the support and services that each child needs to get there. Passing one law to keep them school is not enough. Using this stimulus money wisely to keep them in school along with the passage of this bill would be a good start toward doing the right thing.
6 E // Mar 6, 2009 at 10:44 am
The last thing we need is to ‘allow’ 15, 16, 17 year old kids to drop out and wander aimlessly…nothing good can come from it.
Keep’em in school, or develop a better, more inclusive co-op program.
If they don’t want to learn, or work, and are disruptive…let’em sit in an classroom and pick boogers. At least they’re somewhat supervised for a few hours a day.
7 Sad Card // Mar 6, 2009 at 11:10 am
Has it ever occurred to anyone that some American kids drop out of school precisely because their schools are abysmal pits? Some of these kids then go to libraries or go to work and get a GED. Remember the GED, a program developed for people who did want to remedy (for whatever reason) their decision to drop out?
8 jake // Mar 6, 2009 at 11:25 am
You can’t get a GED in Kentucky until your 18th birthday or until your high school class graduates.
9 Sad Card // Mar 6, 2009 at 11:49 am
E, Re: Supervising disruptive booger pickers..Do some exit interviews with teachers leaving the field about the pleasantries of that duty.
10 E // Mar 6, 2009 at 11:59 am
SC…
It’s a free country. No one made them enter the profession, no one will make them stay.
For that matter, do some interviews with business owners and the private sector in general…they have to make due with many of the ‘disruptive booger pickers’ when the schools are done with them.
11 Sad Card // Mar 6, 2009 at 12:23 pm
E, I guess I missed the memo that the private sector was compelled to hire or otherwise engage disruptive booger pickers. Suffer them, maybe, but we’re all in that boat now aren’t we?
12 E // Mar 6, 2009 at 12:59 pm
We are indeed.
Although the private s sector is not compelled to hire them. We try.
Back to the original issue…
Although the education system does turn out some very bright students, it also fails many. To effectively throw up our hands and allow marginal students to drop out and wander off before they are of legal age, is pathetic.
Keep them in school, expand co-op programs.
Dropping out should NOT be an option.
The education system and the government should lead by example. They should demonstrate that the system won’t just give up on kids…then maybe, just maybe…a few more kids won’t give up on themselves.
As Jake alluded to…maybe if we at least keep such kids in an environment of learning…maybe at some point before they have to move on, they may wake up and realize that their education is important. If we give up on them, and allow them to give up on themselves at such a young age…I have to imagine the probability of having a productive prosperous life are all but non-existent.
13 Sad Card // Mar 6, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Different strokes, then, E and Jake. Kentucky won’t pass this legislation, not just because of the cost of tens of millions of dollars, but because of conflicting data on efficacy.
14 jake // Mar 6, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I’ve been corrected.
Apparently one can now get a GED if they’re 16. Have to be certifiably withdrawn for 90 days.
This wasn’t the case when I personally tried in 1998, at least that I can remember.
15 Conservative // Mar 6, 2009 at 2:21 pm
As long as they eat the boogers and don’t wipe them under the desks. (ewwwww…..)
16 E // Mar 6, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I was wondering when someone was going to go there…ewwwww.
17 E // Mar 6, 2009 at 2:45 pm
We won’t invest more assets in our kids, because kids don’t make political donations, don’t hire lobbyists, and don’t give patronage jobs to politically connected folk.
Contractors do.
When efficacy is in doubt, we should err on the side of caution, and invest in preventative and positive reinforcement measures.
18 jake // Mar 6, 2009 at 2:57 pm
But sometimes those kids, like me, come from nothing. Sometimes all they have is their loving family. Sometimes they don’t even have that.
But SOMETIMES they fight like hell for a decade and then start spreading their wealth all over the state by just, well, spending it and creating jobs.
Sometimes those bad seeds (not saying I was a bad seed) turn out to do great things and they do contribute significantly to their economy.
19 Sad Card // Mar 6, 2009 at 3:23 pm
E, you should know that some of those contactor/patronage types you reference are among the biggest supporters of extending the drop out age. Beware the educational industrial complex.
20 E // Mar 6, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I haven’t a lot of love or respect for the education industry as it currently stands…but for now it’s what we’ve got to work with.
In spite of the contractors perhaps getting fat…for now we still have to consider the kids first and foremost. I can’t see abandoning a kid to spite a contractor.
21 Conservative // Mar 6, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Has anyone ever looked underneath a school desk — and NOT been traumatized beyond repair?
Sometimes, way back in the day, if I had to put my hand on the undersurface of the desk for any reason, I was almost hoping to touch used chewing gum instead of some of the other things that were there. Ewwwww indeed…
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