I continue to reflect on where Kentucky has been and where we need to go in educating our children, and I become more concerned each day. As I shared in a
recent blog post, Reform 2.0--But Without Funding, Kentucky has been a leader in education reform since the
1990s, when the nation took note of the passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). At
the time, Kentucky had nowhere to go but up with its 48^th place national ranking on education indicators.
The state’s position has improved to 33^rd, based on a collection of indicators measuring achievement, and Education Week ranked Kentucky 10^th in its latest
Quality Counts report. This was good progress, but making sure the improvement continues is becoming more and more of a challenge.

What made the difference for Kentucky over the years? Contributing significantly to the success were the supports that students and teachers received
through the Flexible Focus Funds Program:

· Professional development which led to higher quality teaching

· Extended School Services to help students who were falling behind

· Pre-School to get kids off to strong start

· Funding for instructional materials like textbooks

· Allocations for Safe Schools

· Family Resource and Youth Service Centers to help families in need (not part of the flex focus grants but a major support)

The flexible focus funds were an investment in the future of our children, and that investment paid dividends. Because of that, it would be logical to
conclude that this funding would have priority status in Kentucky’s budget. The painful reality, however, is that these funds have been

slowly dissolving

to the point where we are risking our children’s future because of the educational backsliding that will inevitably be the result. We made this point in recent testimony before a legislative committee.

In my post Enough is Enough, I wrote of the gathering
clouds that will create the perfect storm of failure for our schools. Three of the most ominous clouds are:

1. The sequester resulting from federal budget cuts

2. State budget cuts

3. Fear at the local level

We simply cannot continue to make the kind of progress Kentucky must have unless we make the necessary investments to support our students and teachers. As
one of my colleagues noted recently, we are like an airplane that has been flying straight up and has now run out of fuel. We have built positive momentum,
but we’re about to take a nose dive. I’m very proud of the progress Kentucky has made, but I’m also ashamed that we are failing to do the right thing right
now to support our children’s future. In Kentucky - and across the nation - it’s time to let legislators and other policy leaders know that we cannot - and
must not - wait any longer to invest in our kids.