Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Prichard Committee backfire

The best thing to do to head off policy changes you don't like is to call for a "study" of the issue. When Paul Patton was almost defeated by Larry Forgy in 1994, he created a governor's task force to "study" KERA. I know. I was on it. Forgy had called for changes in the reform law, and the KEA controlled Patton administration knew they had to at least look like they were doing something.

Now, with several bills looming in the legislature, Gov. Steve Beshear is, once again, calling for a study. What will a study tell us about that 18 years of actual experience in implementation hasn't?

If we don't know what the problems with KERA are a generation after it was begun, then how exactly is a study going to help us?

Oh, and does anyone remember State Sen. Ed Ford's statement that it would take a generation before we could know if KERA has worked? Well, it's here, folks.

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