Education Policy + Ban The Box

I realized I never include the link to the show in the notes, which is exceedingly stupid of me. Listen here!

Bevin Bans The Box

On Wednesday, Matt Bevin held a press conference in which he announced that the executive branch would end the practice of asking job applicants whether or not they have committed a crime. This type of change is called “banning the box”. When we had Attica Scott on the podcast a few weeks ago, we talked about her successful efforts to ban the box in Louisville. The Louisville ordinance ‘bans the box’ for all Louisville positions, AND for contractors. The new, statewide version, is an executive branch decision, and in order for the state-wide ban to be wider, the legislature would have to be involved.

During the gubernatorial campaign, Matt Bevin made overtures to advocates for criminal justice reform. This action pleased many Bevin critics, as it had been a movement led by progressives. I was taken aback at how many elected Republicans Matt Bevin brought to the press conference who were backing the movement. The mayor of Hopkinsville, also a Republican, followed up on Friday, banning the box in his city.

Something this should make us all think about is how to think about policy and politics at the same time. This reminded me of when President Trump pulled the United States of the Trade Pacific Partnership, another action which many progressive agreed with. How do we grapple with elected officials we may not support doing actions which we do agree with?

Resources

• http://wfpl.org/bevin-bans-box-for-criminal-records-on-state-job-applications/
• http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/01/bevin-criminal-past-apply-state-job/97299650/

Education Reform

• One of the major issues to be taken up now that the legislature is back in Frankfort is education reform.
• We’ve discussed what charter schools are before, so you should listen to that.
• The legislature is expected to take up some kind of legislation regarding charter schools, but additionally, the legislature is debating Senate Bill 1, which would reform education in Kentucky in a big way.
• A version of this Senate Bill 1 was introduced in the past, but like all Senate Bills back in those days, it was not taken up by the Democratically run House.
• This Senate Bill 1 wants to essentially eliminate Common Core standards for the state.
• “Common Core” is a big issue that we should probably untangle. Kentucky was the first state to adopt Common Core standards back in 2010. The idea behind common core was to produce a national standard for english and math for students in each grade that was focused on college preparation. Conservatives have long believed that federal standards are a bad idea, and, as such, have opposed the adoption of common core. Also, the standards teach math in a somewhat innovate, yet academically sound way. Departing for long-held methods for teaching math angered many parents.
• Senate Bill 1 is sponsored by Mike Wilson, a Bowling Green Republican. The law creates a bottom-up approach to school standards development. At the bottom level is a website which exists to collect comments, which are then sent to the next level: an advisory panel staffed by teachers at the school level. All the collected comments would then be sent up the chain a few more links, before eventually meeting a committee of people appointed by the Governor, who would then make the policy decisions which would then be implemented.
• If you are interested in the minutia of the structure, Don Weber at Spectrum had a very good write-up.
• There are four core areas tested in the standard presented in this law: math, reading, science, and social studies. This is more inclusive than common core.
• Wilson made a big point that schools will be held accountable for “productivity” rather than “activity.”
• The Charter School debate is also heating up substantially. I don’t believe a bill has yet been filed about a charter school plan, but several meetings have taken place about what to do.
• Ryland Barton at WFPL wrote about the Charter School debate, and his piece hints that, unlike the bills already passed this session, the Republicans are slightly divided about how to implement charter schools.
• According to him, the issue boils down to whether or not to PILOT the program in just Jefferson and Fayette counties, or to roll the program out wide to all the counties.
• It appears that Democrats are more in favor of starting small, so I believe the question boils down to whether or not the Democrats are willing to compromise on something small, creating a majority of Democrats+some Republicans who can put in place a small program.

Resources

• http://wfpl.org/kentucky-charter-debate-pits-urban-vs-rural/
• http://mycn2.com/politics/priority-senate-bill-focuses-in-increasing-postsecondary-readiness-of-graduates-through-local-control

New Kentucky Project Conference

We went to the New Kentucky Project conference on Saturday. We talked about NKP in the very first episode of our podcast, they are a group founded by Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio and Adam Edelen, the former Kentucky State Auditor. The conference featured speakers in both the policy and political realms of the state — including Attica Scott, McKenzie Cantrell, Angie Hatton, Morgan McGarvey, Russ Meyer, and several others. They made very clear that the event was significantly larger than they expected — about 600 people showed up after they assumed only about 100 would be there originally.

Robert: I was impressed by the gathering. I talked about the KCEP conference last week, and this one was like it’s mirror image. KCEP emphasized policy, but was considerate of the political realm, while NKP emphasized politics, but was wise to not ignore policy. I was really glad that Jason Bailey of KCEP and Ron Crouch, the former state demographer, was invited to speak. I thought the whole event was a great opportunity to hear from a lot of great people and to network.

Jazmin: I think I have a better idea now about what the NKP is. I think some people were skeptical because they didn’t think NKP would be progressive enough, but I thought that most of the speakers were the more progressive representatives. NKP made a really good first impression on me, and I’m really interested to see what’s next.

QUICK HITS

Stumbo’s Suit Dismissed

Greg Stumbo filed one of the several legal challenges to Matt Bevin last year. Stumbo alleged that Bevin illegally vetoed some of the bills that passed the legislature last year, and the suit was in front of Judge Philip Shepherd. Judge Shepherd declined to assess the merits of Stumbo’s suit, but threw out the case because Greg Stumbo now lacks standing.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-governor/2017/02/01/stumbos-lawsuit-over-bevins-vetoes-dismissed/97358290/

Article 5 Convention

There is a group rallying in Frankfort trying to get the state to pass a resolution to have a “Convention of States”, which would be a way to essentially open the constitution for revisions. The group only needs 6 more states before this happens. It’s a pretty wild idea that could have some serious ramifications. KCEP sent a press release opposing the idea.

http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article131231964.html

http://kypolicy.org/kentucky-reject-dangerous-call-reopen-constitution/

#BowlingGreenMassacre

President Trump signed an executive order a few weeks ago, which significantly altered the refugee and immigration process. In the wake of that order, Kellyanne Conway, an important aide to the President, gave as justification, the “Bowling Green Massacre”. Insider Louisville’s Joe Sonka tweeted that no such massacre existed, and many jokes were told. Here are some of our favs.

• Montrezl Harrell
• Corvette Sinkhole
• Louisville Purge