Bowling Green Daily News. February 25, 2023.

Editorial: Teacher rank program an asset with its first graduates

It’s well-documented that Kentucky teachers are underpaid.

Any program that boosts training and effectiveness and leads to higher pay for our educators is a wise endeavor. That’s why we salute and support those in the GRREC ED Rank program for their professional development plan.

The program was created in 2020 to help educators get rank changes. Teachers are ranked – Rank V, Rank IV, Rank III, Rank II and Rank I – based on education and training, with Rank I being the highest bar. Salary increases with rank.

The GRREC ED Rank program recently had its first 81 graduates. Those who went through the program learned more effective ways to teach, and were able to raise their pay by improving their rank.

According to GRREC Executive Director Bart Flener, the program differs from the traditional rank change process in that the learning is student-directed rather than guided by professors.

“The impact was so clear,” said program director Rebecca Gaddie in a Daily News interview this week. “We saw impact on students, we saw impact on the educator who was the candidate, we saw an impact on the school itself.

“And in many cases, we saw classroom teachers who never really viewed themselves as leaders in their district affect the way the whole district does things with their projects.”

The result from the program is improved educators and better compensation. Those are two solid facets we should strive for in Kentucky’s educational system.

We also appreciate and encourage the effort in Frankfort to address our education system. There is a bill being advanced by the House to address the shortage of teachers. Gov. Andy Beshear is pushing for higher salaries in the form of a 5% raise for teachers and other public school employees.

Meanwhile, we salute the GRREC program and appreciate the gains it is helping to make for our teachers and ultimately for our students.

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Ashland Daily Independent. February 28, 2023.

Editorial: Will Quarles make jump?

Ryan Quarles, Kentucky’s second-term Commissioner of Agriculture, teased a “major” announcement on social media on Monday night.

Quarles made that announcement on Tuesday morning.

People speculated as to what it could be. A good bit of prognosticators predicted Quarles would drop out of the crowded race for governor.

Oh, it was quite the contrary.

Quarles instead made a head-turning chess move as he attempts to leap past Daniel Cameron and Kelly Craft on the Republican side of the gubernatorial push.

With the May primary less than three months away, Quarles pledged he would power past legislative resistance to legalize medical marijuana if he’s elected to lead the Commonwealth.

His announcement at the state Capitol aligns with the views of current Gov. Andy Beshear. The glaring difference is their party affiliation.

As a Republican, Quarles stepped off the beaten path a bit with his declaration on Tuesday.

Beshear was sort of amused, it appeared.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” said the governor. “I’ve been pushing to legalize medical marijuana for years, not while I was running for governor, because it’s the right thing to do.”

Kentucky is one of only 11 states in which medical marijuana is illegal. Also in that category are Wyoming, Kansas, Idaho, Texas, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Georgia and Tennessee.

Marijuana — not just of the medical variety — is completely legal now in 20 states: Maine, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada.

In late 2022, though, Beshear took executive action to allow Kentuckians suffering from debilitating conditions to legally possess small amounts of medical marijuana properly purchased in another state. Kentuckians must keep their receipt for proof.

Also under his order, the person needs certification from a licensed health care provider to verify a diagnosis of specific conditions. Among them are cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder.

If the legislature ultimately legalizes medical cannabis, Beshear said he’d rescind his order.

As for Quarles, it will be interesting to see if his stance will help him separate from the pack of a dozen Republicans vying for a chance to face Beshear in November.

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Frankort State Journal. February 25, 2023.

Editorial: Time to scratch Confederate holidays from KRS

It’s been nearly three years since the Historic Properties Advisory Commission opted to remove the statue of the Jefferson Davis, the only Confederate president, from the Capitol Rotunda in 11-1 vote. But remnants of the Confederacy remain in the form of three public holidays still listed in the Kentucky Revised Statutes and one rookie legislator is out to change that.

On Monday, Rep. Chad Aull, D-Lexington, introduced House Bill 211, legislation which would strike public holidays listed in KRS 2.110 that honor the Confederacy — Robert E. Lee Day on Jan. 19 as well as Confederate Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis Day, both of which are marked on June 3.

It doesn’t matter that the days are no longer observed (although it is troubling to think that as late as the 1980s Kentucky was marking Robert E. Lee Day). The truth is these Confederate holidays symbolize a bygone era that included the enslavement of our ancestors.

They do not belong alongside the other public holidays as defined in KRS 2.110, which include New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday (third Monday of January); Franklin D. Roosevelt Day (Jan. 30); Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (Feb. 12); George Washington’s birthday (third Monday in February); Memorial Day (last Monday in May); Independence Day; Labor Day (first Monday in September); Columbus Day (second Monday in October); Veterans Day (Nov. 11); Christmas Day; “and all days appointed by the President of the United States or by the Governor as days of thanksgiving, are holidays, on which all the public offices of this Commonwealth may be closed.”

In addition to the removal of the Jefferson Davis statute in the Rotunda, Aull pointed to other occasions when the General Assembly has taken steps to right past wrongs, such as the formal ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution in 1976 “even though those amendments — which ended slavery, reaffirmed citizen rights and removed race as a barrier to voting — had been in place for more than a century,” he said.

“Former state Rep. Mae Street Kidd led that effort because, she said, ‘I am a proud Kentuckian, and I didn’t want that blot to remain on our history,’” Aull explained. “Well, I don’t want the blot of these Confederate holidays to remain on our history.”

HB 211, which has nine Democratic co-sponsors — including Frankfort Rep. Derrick Graham, has yet to be assigned to a committee.

Ideally, the measure would be passed to coincide with Black History Month. But the likelihood of that are slim and none. We agree with Aull who said the legislation needs to be passed before lawmakers wrap up the session next month.

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News from © The Associated Press, 2023