BIPPS president makes the case for choice, transparency in KET debate

New policy brief points to lack of bang for billions of education bucks

Bluegrass Institute President Jim Waters recently participated in a debate on KET’s ‘Kentucky Tonight’ about education spending, transparency, performance and choice.

Waters was joined by Heather LeMire, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Kentucky, in making the case for education freedom in the commonwealth. Opponents of education choice and freedom on the program are: Brigitte Blom, president and CEO of The Prichard Committee, and Eddie Campbell, president of the Kentucky Education Association (a teachers union).

Waters challenged the myths being perpetrated by opponents of giving parents, including the assertion giving families the same type of educational alternatives available in a majority of other states will be harmful to a state’s public education system. He noted that other states, including Florida, have spurred improvement in their K-12 academic performance while increasing the options available to parents in both the public and nonpublic education spheres.

“This isn’t about destroying public education,” Waters said. “This is about improving it.”

Watch the entire hour-long debate here: https://bit.ly/3I1HvXr.

And, check out the Bluegrass Institute’s latest policy release here, which examines the bang (or lack thereof) taxpayers receive from the billions of K-12 bucks spent in Kentucky each year.