If you run for the Jefferson County Board of Education and the teachers union doesn’t like you they’ll shovel money to your opponent. Like, $50,000 or even $160,000.

Ben Foster couldn’t stand the student assignment plan so he ran against student assignment supporter and board incumbent Larry Hujo.   JCTA “endorsed Hujo and spent $160,000 promoting their selection to voters.”

Hujo won.

Brent Whaley couldn’t stand the student assignment plan so he ran against student assignment supporter and board incumbent Debbie Wesslund.  JCTA endorsed Debbie Wesslund.

Wesslund won.

Philip M. Bailey reports all of the gorey details in a great LEO article called Money Talks:  ACLU of Kentucky challenges contribution limit for school board candidates. Read it here.

JCTA spent $350,000 on contributions one year.   Can you imagine the circle of love between the board and JCTA?  If the union spent $160,000 or a similar boatload of cash on your campaign, you’d vote the way they want you to vote.   And if you started to give them any grief, they’ll turn on you like they’re turning on Wesslund.

More on that later.

Read Full Post »

Ministers demand monopoly on scaring the bejeezus out of liberal and black Louisvillians and tell Hal Heiner to take his scary ad someplace else

Hal Heiner’s scary message: “For too long, we’ve accepted failing schools. Achieving true diversity doesn’t come from kids leaving before breakfast and getting home after dinner. It comes from building great schools in all of our neighborhoods. We need a fresh look at education.”

See the entire ad here: Hal Heiner for Mayor Ad #4

Scary rating on a scale of 1 to 10: 2

Interdenominational Ministerial Coalition’s  scary message: “Councilman Hal Heiner’s plan will take our city back to the 1950s. We cannot afford that,” says the Rev. Frank Smith Jr., president of the coalition, which represents over 100 churches. “Mr. Heiner is playing games with our children — and trying to drive votes based on fear. That is shameful.”

Scary rating on a scale of 1 to 10: 9 (extra points for mind games!)

Let me expound on that charming “back to the 1950s” reference.  In the 50s and even the 60s, black teachers’ salaries were 25-50% of white teachers’ salaries.  Students from black schools were dumpster-diving from white schools to get textbooks and furniture.  Black students were not allowed to enroll in schools in white neighborhoods.  Teachers in black schools were not always degreed. Spending on black students was less than half of what was spent on white students.

Come on, Reverend Smith.  Are you serious? You think Heiner’s plan supports that kind of trip to the past?

The list of wrongs that took place only a few generations ago is long and shameful.  Please read “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” by Isabel Wilkerson if you are interested in reading more about how black students were denied a decent education.  Keep the Kleenex handy and I’m not being sarcastic.

Here in Jefferson County we are forcing black students to bear the heaviest burden of forced busing.  This is a system that was supposed to improve their academic performance but their test scores and graduation rates are worst of all. I think that’s pretty scary, don’t you?

These ministers need to take a long, hard look at those test scores and stop worrying about a campaign ad.

Read Full Post »