Adequate and Equitable

Budget work is moving with unusual speed this year, with both House and Senate moving through committee action and floor votes this week on the Executive Branch budget. They approved identical plans for the education items we track. Work by a free conference committee could still bring additional changes.

Governor Beshear introduced his proposed budget for the 2022 fiscal year last night, including some important steps up for Kentucky’s educational investments. Here comes an overview of his recommendations, which will be considered and almost certainly changed by the General Assembly.

Following  President & CEO Brigitte Blom Ramsey's initial statement on today’s Grand Jury decision in the case of Breonna Taylor, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence issued the following statement about building justice and racial equity in the Kentucky public education system:

Over the last four days, the Prichard Committee hosted 10 virtual conversations about racial equity in Kentucky’s schools for its Black Minds Matter series. The events Thursday and Friday put an exclamation point on a robust week of dialog

On Wednesday, June 24, Prichard Committee President & CEO Brigitte Blom Ramsey hosted three conversations on Facebook Live with state and national educators and KET journalist Renee Shaw. Three themes were prevalent throughout the second full day of conversations in our “Black Minds Matter Series” – belief gaps in education, the need for stronger black history curriculum, and the need for more teachers of color in Kentucky’s school system.

Following up on yesterday’s post about public higher education institutions’ graduation results for Black students, let’s go a deeper and look at the pipeline leading toward those graduations.  Here’s a starting view of some key metrics:

Our first day of conversations during Black Minds Matter week featured Dr. O.J. Oleka, executive director of the Association for Independent Kentucky Colleges & Universities, and Mandy McLaren, an education reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Prichard Committee President & CEO Brigitte Blom Ramsey interviewed both about racial inequities in Kentucky’s education system.

Four gaps persist and get in the way of children and young people with gifts and talents reaching their potential. These four gaps are the Belief Gap, Opportunity Gap, Achievement Gap, and Excellence Gap.