Bluegrass Institute statement on JCPS Audit: Time for a fresh start for Louisville students

BIPPS Logo_pick

For Immediate Release: Monday, April 30, 2018

(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) –– The Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, Kentucky’s first and only free-market think tank, has been bringing much-needed sunshine to the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) for many years now.

JCPS has been mismanaged for decades and the achievement gap continues to widen. Since the inception of national tests in 2009, low-income and minority students have been falling further and further behind. Jefferson County has 17 of Kentucky’s 25 priority schools, but as the audit points out, the district has no structure to provide needed support to these schools.

State testing shows that nearly 70 percent of all third-graders in JCPS failed to reach proficiency in reading last year despite attending school in a district with a $1.5 billion budget – the largest of any school district in Kentucky and nearly twice the size of the entire Louisville Metro Council budget.

That is a travesty and it’s more than time for big changes.

The Bluegrass Institute looks forward to the turning of a new page for all JCPS students.

For more information, please contact Jim Waters at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com, 859.444.5630 (office) or 270.320.4376 (cell).