The Bluegrass Institute recently sat down to talk about public education in Kentucky with Billy Harper, who recently completed a four-year term on the Kentucky Board of Education.

In this sixth segment, Harper said that “it’s critical” for a representative from the business community to be on the state education board.

He emphasizes that “the education system needs the feedback” from the business community on how it’s performing, since ultimately students will be employed by companies representing that sector.

“There has to be a huge bond between business and education,” Harper said, and he hopes the governor will look at the need to have a representative of Kentucky’s business community on the state education board.

Harper also continues to speak out about the need to find a more efficient way of terminating poorly performing teachers, which currently costs an average of $55,000.“It’s something we’ve got to deal with,” he said.