New Governor seeks to change the Face of Education

Kentucky public schools are ranked 35 out of 50, and were previously 49 out of 50. Kentucky schools have survived budget cuts from the federal government, forcing the state government to reconstruct the budget to make up for lost funds. Some of the cuts caused a shortage of textbooks, school safety, and funding for grades K-12.

According to the newly elected governor’s website, Matt Bevin wants to create a higher rate of competition among the schools to push the students to better outcomes.

“Matt Bevin wants to ensure that education is not determined but the federal government.” Noah Tapp a junior in Young Republicans said. “It is evident that low income children are forced to go to failing schools. He believes the wealth of a family or the government should not determine a child’s education.”

Bevin wants to implement charter schools, which are publically-funded schools that are privately run. He would create this competition by giving a portion of public schools tax dollars to the charter schools.

Charter schools don’t require their teachers to be certified, nor do they have to provide meals or transportation to their students. Public schools population, however, are made up of a variety of students whose parents cannot afford three meals a day and transportation to and from school.

“This would push public schools into decreasing clubs and organizations,” Dara Talbott, a member of Young Democrats and a volunteer under Alison Lundergan Grimes said. “Allowing for less education material to be purchased each year and cutting funds to important organizations and staff we need.”

The budget cuts have already cut down on the amount of new textbooks schools can purchase. Students now in some classes do not have enough copies of books to complete a class set.

Kentucky also had to cut down on 60% of school safety because they could not afford salaries of officers any longer.

Bevin would like to implement the school-choice policy where parents can chose any public, charter, or private school in their district and get a voucher to pay for it. The voucher would give students $4,000 dollars to go to private schools (leaving another $1000 left to pay for tuition).

Bevin also wants to limit the one size fits all role in education.

According to ontheissues.org Bevin claims, “We should limit the federal government’s role in our education system, allowing states and local towns to make education decisions that best suit the unique needs of their communities. The federal government’s one-size-fits-all, top-down policies rob states of their sovereignty and have failed our students.”

Many changes may occur in Bevin’s term to change the education system by putting more attention on competition between schools.