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KENTUCKY GENERAL ASSEMBLY « Result #2 on Oct 13, 2009, 2:21pm »
Legislators look into two-year college transfers
More than a decade after higher education reform, many community and technical college students have trouble transferring to four-year colleges within Kentucky, a panel of lawmakers heard this week.
KCTCS Chancellor Jay Box and others discussed the problems with members of the legislature's Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education. While the University of Kentucky and Lexington's Bluegrass Community and Technical College have made great strides in their relationship, "unfortunately, KCTCS's goals are much greater than simply lining up with UK," he said. With 16 local two-year colleges and eight public four-year schools, each with their own course numbering system and course structure, it's complex to get everyone on the same page.
Box and Robert King, president of the state's Council on Postsecondary Education, also noted that even when course credit transfers, it doesn't always count toward the student's degree program. A system where every student understands their planned bachelor's degree requirements and what they can do at their two-year school to make progress is essential, they said.
"Frankly, there's going to be an expectation that we live up to some of the things we've been talking about" with the tight budget situation heading into the 2010 session, said Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville.
Rep. Bill Farmer, R-Lexington, noted that as students take longer to graduate, more state tax dollars are needed to subsidize university programs.
Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, pointed out a 2004 survey showing that 67 percent of KCTCS students planning to transfer had not received any transfer information from a college advisor, and that 32 percent did not understand the transfer process. "Those problems are fixable," he said, while King noted that CPE hoped to conduct an updated survey soon and that he believed those numbers would be much lower.
King also pointed to a number of programs in other states, ranging from joint admission/enrollment programs to a focus on common learning outcomes across state institutions, that could be implemented in Kentucky in order to streamline students' transfer process.
The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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KENTUCKY GENERAL ASSEMBLY « Result #3 on Sept 4, 2009, 10:53am »
LRC approves calendar for 2010 legislative session
A schedule for the Kentucky General Assembly’s 2010 session was approved today by legislative leaders. The session is scheduled to convene on Jan. 5 and adjourn April 13. It is expected to last 60 working days – the maximum allowed by the state constitution in even-numbered years. Legislators will not meet on Jan. 18 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day or on Feb. 15 in observance of Presidents’ Day.
The veto recess – the period of time in which lawmakers commonly return to their home districts to see which bills, if any, the governor chooses to veto – will last from March 30 through April 9, with lawmakers returning to the Capitol on April 12 for the final two days of the session. The session calendar can be viewed online at:
The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
Chester Gregory, 82, passed away Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009, at Lake Cumberland Regional Medical Center in Somerset. He was born May 28, 1927 at Pigeon Roost in Clay County to the late James and Dora Philpot Hampton Gregory. He was a member of Horse Creek Baptist Church in Clay County.
Preceding him in death were his parents; brothers, Dence Gregory, J.T. Gregory, Troy Gregory and Fount Hampton; sisters, Lucy Lee Lewis and Cindy Porter. He married Gladys Gregory in Barbourville, Ky., on July 1, 1949, who survives, and born to this union were two sons, Kelly Gregory, of London, and Jerry Gregory, of Louisville.
He is also survived by three sisters, Katherine Page and Sally Herrington, both of Indianapolis, and Bonnie Grant, of Martinsville, Ind.; two brothers, Edison Gregory and Otis Gregory, both of Indianapolis; two special daughter-in-laws, Betty Gregory and Martina Gregory; a grandson, James Travis Gregory and a step-granddaughter, Helen Camille Wiser, of Louisville; and many close friends.
Funeral services were conducted at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, at House-Rawlings Funeral Home Chapel with Roy Crawford officiating. Burial followed in the Chadwell Cemetery in Clay County.
Chester Gregory, 82, passed away Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009, at Lake Cumberland Regional Medical Center in Somerset. He was the husband of Gladys Gregory.
Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home chapel. Burial will follow at Chadwell Cemetery in Clay County.
House-Rawlings Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Dophia Turner, 102, of London, passed away Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009 at her home. Born March 20, 1907, she was the daughter of Robert Lee Turner and Margaret Madden Turner. She was a resident of Laurel County for more than 40 years. She was originally from Leslie County.
She attented Berea College Normal School. She worked in the housekeeping department at London TB Hospital for serveral years. She also was employed at Marymount Hospital and Sue Bennett College.
She was preceeded in death by her parents; brothers, Preston, John, Dillard and Dodson Turner; and sisters, Addie Marie Turner, Joan Noble, Jean Singleton and Grace Busby.
She is survived by her children, Billie Jean Roberts of Manchester; Fay Templeton Walker of London; James Moxie Hensley of Keavy and Josephine Frost of London; sisters, Della Shawn of Lexington and Lela Keen of Hyden; and a brother, Bill Turner of Pamorena, Ariz.
Funeral services were August 12 at House-Rawlings Funeral Home. Burial followed at Cumberland Memorial Gardens in Corbin. House-Rawlings Funeral Home in charge of the arrangements.
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Corrections costs « Result #7 on Aug 10, 2009, 5:23pm »
Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, co-chair of the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary, presides over the committee's August meeting in Frankfort. [i]Photo by Bud Kraft, LRC Public Information.[/b]
Business leaders, others speak out on corrections costs in Frankfort
Business leaders in Kentucky came before a state legislative committee today to express concern with a state corrections budget that they said is taking money away from education and other priorities. Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President David Adkisson told the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary that state General Fund spending on K-12 education has decreased by about 5 percent since 1988 while corrections spending has grown by 44 percent since the year 2000, or about 14 percent more than growth of the state economy over the recent nine-year period. Medicaid and the state’s public employee health plan budgets have also experienced fast-paced growth.
“So that is our concern, that there are three areas—Corrections, Medicaid and public employee health care—that are unsustainable. They are growing faster than the economy, growing faster than the state budget itself,” said Adkisson.
Honing in on corrections, Adkisson illustrated the cost of the state’s current inmate population—one of the fastest growing in the nation, according to the Pew Center on the States. While the state spends around $9,200 per year on a K-12 student and around $7,000 per year on a full-time postsecondary education student, it spends around $19,000 a year to house a state inmate.
“So our perspective…is we’re coming at this from a budget priority standpoint. That as we find ourselves having to pay the bill on incarceration, we take money from education to do that and it’s a self-defeating trend,” said Adkisson.
Adkisson offered a number of potential solutions to the corrections problem, such as increased privatization of inmates to reduce state costs, reclassification of offenses to keep the prison population more in line with Kentucky’s low crime rate, continued attention to the high number of drug offenders in prisons and jails, and a review of the state’s persistent felony offender law which imposes mandatory sentences for repeat offenses.
Committee Co-Chair Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, mentioned that some state laws to help reduce the corrections budget--such as a law passed last spring that increased the threshold for felony theft of property in many cases from $300 to $500—have been resisted by the business community. He suggested the state Chamber discuss the positive impact of such changes with local chambers of commerce.
“That is one of those areas when (we) talk about the cost of the system that the business community has consistently fought,” said Stivers. “The business community could be a big factor in voicing support based on the numbers you have see and that several of us on this committee have worked on for the past four or five years trying to bring attention (to).”
Sen. Gerald Neal, who co-chairs the committee’s Subcommittee on the Penal Code and Controlled Substance Act, said the subcommittee is evaluating the Chamber’s information “and it will be factored into any recommendations that we ultimately make.”
Speaking on behalf of counties, which Stivers said generally bear the cost of incarceration at the local level, were Todd County Attorney Mac Johns and Woodford County Attorney Alan George. Johns explained the difficulty in balancing his role as prosecutor with what he called his principal role as “protector of the county budget.”
One way to help lower corrections cost, said Johns, is to address drug addiction since drug-related crimes account for a large percentage of the state’s inmate population.
“If we had two years of meaningful probation supervision where there are monthly drug tests or even weekly drug tests, we might interrupt that cycle…and help people move away from their addictions,” said Johns.
Rep. Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow, said more needs to be done to reduce the state prison population in ways that appease different parties in the criminal justice community.
“It should be a concerted effort,” said Bell.
The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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Lawmakers meet commissioner « Result #8 on Aug 10, 2009, 5:10pm »
Lawmakers meet with new education commissioner
Just five days after taking the job, Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday had his first meeting with state legislators as he spoke to the Interim Joint Committee on Education.
“My vision of education is to prepare children to lead in the future, and we’ll do so as collaboratively as possible,” he said of his long-term plan for the state’s P-12 school system.
In the meantime, though, there are more pressing obligations. “The practical side of me says my vision is Senate Bill 1,” he said of his immediate task, referring to the legislation passed this spring to overhaul the state’s testing and accountability system. “Kentucky has long been known for national leadership in education reform… Your insight and preparation in Senate Bill 1 will certainly lead us into the next generation of education reform,” he said. Staffers from the Department of Education followed Dr. Holliday in detailing executive branch efforts to implement the legislation.
Dr. Holliday comes to Kentucky from the Iredell-Statesville schools in North Carolina, where as district superintendent his district won a 2008 congressional award for its long-term improvement in quality and productivity.
The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
O.B. Richardson, 67, of Corbin, passed away Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009, at Baptist Regional Medical Center.
He was the son of the late Oscar B. & Captola McHargue Richardson, Sr. He was a retired mechanic with Whayne Supply of Corbin and a member of the 17th Street Christian Church, where he served as a deacon. He was a member of the Hugh Harris Masonic Lodge No. 938 F&AM. He was also president of the Whitley County Bee Keepers Association and a member of the Kentucky State Bee Keepers Association.
He was preceded in death by his father, Oscar B. Richardson, Sr., mother, Captola McHargue Richardson Gibbs, son, John Mark Richardson, half-sister, Mary Gibbs, and half-brother, Willard Gibbs.
He is survived by his wife, Sara Metcalf Richardson of Corbin; daughter, Cora Lee Richardson of Corbin; brother, C.W. Richardson of Cold Spring; grandson, Max Allen Richardson of Corbin; stepbrothers, Russell Gibbs (Mrs. Sue) of Corbin, Roy Gibbs (Mrs. Lora) of Corbin, Raleigh Gibbs (Mrs. Lisa) of Corbin, Ernest Gibbs of Manchester, Bill Gibbs (Mrs. Vera) of Corbin, Buggs Richardson (Mrs. Lynn) of Toms River, N.J., Velmer Richardson of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Enoch Gibbs (Mrs. Sondra) of Ashland; stepsisters, Brenda Gibbs of Corbin, Louise Prewitt of Keavy, Violet Whittenburg (Mr. Mike) of Crossville, Tenn., Veronica Evans (Mr. Larry) of Cincinnati, Ohio, Vicky Davidson (Mr. Fred) of Cincinnati, Venessia Hembree (Mr. Tom) of Blanchester, Ohio, Venitta Kelly (Mr. Dave) of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Velda Richardson of Cincinnati, Ohio; and a host of family and friends who mourn his passing.
Funeral services were Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009, at 17th Street Christian Church with Bro. Ivan Spencer officiating. Burial will followed at Corinth Cemetery in Whitley County.
Corbin Funeral Home is in charge of all arrangements, Byron L. Schiesz and Mike Cox, directors.
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High-risk insurance pool « Result #10 on Aug 5, 2009, 9:36pm »
State’s high-risk insurance pool running smoothly
Kentucky Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark told state lawmakers today she is unsure how federal health care proposals will affect a Kentucky program that offers health insurance for sick Kentuckians priced out of the private insurance market. But with $10 million on hand to start out the new fiscal year which began July 1, Clark said the nine-year-old state program known as Kentucky Access is doing well despite some challenges. The so-called “high-risk pool” currently covers 4,518 members, has received $7.2 million in grant funds in the past 8 ½ years and is considered one reason Kentucky now has eight health insurers in the state’s individual market after losing several companies in the 1990s.
Now, two more individual insurance companies are considering coming to Kentucky, Clark told the state legislative Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee. “So we’ve been very pleased with those discussions,” she said.
Kentucky Access is funded by an assessment on health insurance providers, a portion of Kentucky’s share of a 1998 tobacco settlement between states including Kentucky and major tobacco companies, investment income, insurance premiums and grants, said program Executive Director Tonya Parsons. Last year, tobacco settlement dollars were used to cover over $62 million in program expenses including medical claims and the cost of third-party program administration, which Clark said is about one third the national average.
“So we pinch our pennies,” she said.
Total medical claims through Kentucky Access for fiscal year 2009 were nearly $58 million, Parsons said. Parsons said she expects Kentucky Access to have revenues in the $70 million range this fiscal year, based on a state appropriation of nearly $20 million in tobacco settlement dollars and anticipated premiums.
The state’s tobacco settlement dollars are also appropriated by state lawmakers for the state’s Lung Cancer Research Program at the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville. Last fiscal year, approximately $1 million of the $5.6 million appropriated for the lung cancer program was transferred to the state’s Ovarian Cancer Screening Outreach Program. That interested Committee Co-Chair Rep. Dottie Sims, D-Horse Cave.
“This is a real good thing,” Sims said of the ovarian cancer program, also handled by the universities. She asked Clark how successful it has been so far.
Although Clark said she had no specific numbers from the universities, she understands that the program has a waiting list.
“So I would deem it to be a success based on that information,” said Clark.
As for the federal health care debate ongoing in Washington, Clark said her office is now monitoring discussion on about 10 federal bills that could possibly change health care as it is today.
“We certainly do not know what the impact will be with Kentucky Access and, quite frankly, we have been covering these bills and testimony every week. But we are closely monitoring this to see what impact the bills could possibly have,” she said.
The preceding was a press release from LRC eNews. For more information on items before the Kentucky Legislature contact your local senator Robert Stivers (left) and/or representative Tim Couch (right).
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