Recent editorials from Kentucky newspapers:
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Dec. 21
The Lexington Herald-Leader on AP testing fees:
Young Kentuckians who challenge themselves by taking Advanced Placement classes are more likely to go to college and more likely to succeed in college, especially youngsters who are from low-income homes.
The number of public high-school students in Kentucky taking AP exams increased 35 percent from 2011 to 2015, when 31,658 students took 50,593 tests. Kentuckians earning a score of at least 3, the minimum to earn college credit, rose 40 percent.
It’s good news then that Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt has found a way to support that momentum by replacing federal funds that until now have helped pay AP testing fees for students whose family incomes fall below a certain level.
By the same token, it’s disappointing that the new federal education law reduces support for low-income students’ testing fees. The majority of states, including Kentucky, have relied on federal grants to help pay for low-income students to take Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests.
The new law, which Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed last year, folds the $28.5 million in testing-fee aid into a block grant.
The block grant falls short of Kentucky’s 2016-17 costs so Pruitt is reallocating $800,000 in state funds to cover low-income students’ AP and IB fees.
It’s unclear whether federal support will rebound in future years.
The number of AP exams taken by low-income students grew from 82,000 in 1999 to 850,000 in 2016. The College Board, which administers AP, says the federal test fee program was a big factor in increasing participation of low-income students in more rigorous AP classes.
Kentucky lawmakers in 2008 put into law a promise to cover AP or IB fees for all students. The bottom fell out of the economy later that year and the legislature has never appropriated money to cover test fees.
Kudos to Andrew Brennen - a 2014 graduate of Lexington’s Dunbar High School and national field director of Student Voice, a nonprofit organized by students - for putting a timely spotlight on the legislature’s broken promise.
In 2008, Kentucky helped pilot the National Math and Science Initiative’s College Readiness Program which pumped $13 million into supporting low-income and minority students in AP classes and training Kentucky teachers to teach the more rigorous content in math, science and English. The program produced impressive results in terms of college readiness and success in the first years of college.
Commissioner Pruitt is right. “All students should have equal access to the benefits of AP coursework.”
Access to more rigorous classes and the chance to earn college credit can help close the “opportunity gap” for low-income kids who, given high expectations and a chance to excel, surprise even themselves.
Online:
https://www.kentucky.com
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Dec. 22
The Advocate-Messenger on a post-jail drug rehabilitation program:
We’re excited about the potential of the post-jail drug rehabilitation program Boyle and Mercer counties are implementing.
The program fills what has been a massive gap in treatment for inmates and people who were recently in jail. Once the program is launched, inmates with drug addiction problems will be given all kinds of support and training to help them turn their lives around.
Instead of simply putting these inmates back on the street and into situations where they’re likely to return to drugs and then eventually jail, we’ll be giving them a better option.
It’s a forward-thinking plan that targets the root of the problem rather than the symptoms.
Officials haven’t been ignoring this problem - it’s been one of the main issues they’ve been focused on for years now. That’s thanks in part to the skyrocketing costs to jail more and more people more and more frequently.
Now, Lexington-based Shepherd’s House has been chosen to run the program for $132,000 a year - though if recidivism shrinks and the economy improves thanks to this program, it’s possible it could pay for itself in the long run.
But more important than the selection of Shepherd’s House is the community involvement in this project. Nonprofits, governments, businesses and individuals are all rallying around the plan and offering whatever they can to make it successful.
The greatest plan in the world will still fail if people won’t buy into it. And even mediocre plans can be wildly successful when people are committed to them.
This project is the best of both worlds - a great plan with deep and wide support.
Boyle Jailer Barry Harmon says other communities have seen success in reducing recidivism with similar programs.
We’re hopeful once this program gets off the ground, it can exceed all expectations. We’re hopeful other communities will be traveling to Boyle and Mercer counties to learn how we made such a big dent in the drug epidemic.
To accomplish this, however, we cannot waiver or become complacent. We cannot sit back and say, “now that this drug program is in place, drugs are no longer a problem.”
We cannot implement a high-quality program without community involvement - that would be like building a state-of-the-art school but not hiring any teachers, or holding a church service without a congregation.
We all need to keep talking about our communities’ drug problems; we need to keep demanding solutions - and volunteering to help when solutions demand work; we need to be both positive role models and compassionate friends to those around us who are battling addiction.
We’ve seen a lot of involvement and commitment so far, which is why we’re optimistic. Hopefully, that commitment remains solid once the rubber meets the road.
Online:
https://www.amnews.com
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Dec. 23
The Bowling Green Daily News on medical school expansion to southwestern Kentucky area:
A medical school partnership between the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, The Medical Center and Western Kentucky University has the potential to positively affect everything from the local economy to patient care in Bowling Green.
UK announced in February it would expand its medical school through a partnership with the hospital and WKU. Medical school students will attend classes here in Bowling Green in a new building on the campus of The Medical Center. The medical degree will be conferred by UK, and a certain number of slots in the program here will be available first to WKU students.
From its humble beginnings as City-County Hospital on Bowling Green’s Hospital Hill to today’s Med Center Health, the multi-tiered organization with facilities spanning throughout several southcentral Kentucky counties continues to transform Bowling Green and the region. A medical school here will be a crown jewel for the community.
“We believe the medical school will bring about an unprecedented level of commitment to delivering the best in evidence-based care to patients throughout our region,” Connie Smith, president and CEO of Med Center Health, said in an email.
The UK College of Medicine initiative - which in eastern Kentucky also includes a similar partnership between St. Clair Regional Medical Center, King’s Daughters Medical Center and Morehead State University - is scheduled to begin here in 2018 with 30 students. Med Center Health is in the planning and design phase of a new building to house the school on The Medical Center’s campus. The Health Sciences Complex, also on The Medical Center campus, is the building that houses WKU’s nursing and physical therapy programs.
The medical school has the potential to curtail a physician shortage in this area, assist in economic development by demonstrating smart growth through the creation of highly skilled, high paying jobs, attract and retain the region’s best students, add another layer to patient care and create another avenue for WKU professors to get involved in medical research projects.
“The medical student will allow the patient to have another advocate that may be able to spend a little more time than the physician would be able to give,” said Dr. Don Brown, The Medical Center’s director of medical education.
In the long term, the medical school will also help alleviate the physician shortage in the area, Smith said.
Those involved in the project are hopeful that medical students will choose to live and practice medicine here once they complete their education.
“I think the arrival of the medical school is going to be a tremendous boost for this area,” WKU Provost David Lee said.
Online:
https://www.bgdailynews.com
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