Need for revenue in the news

A Courier-Journal letter to the editor from a U of L law professor that is worth noting, especially for those of us interested in seeing KY become a more just commonwealth.  The letter describes the effects of the budget cuts on the Department of Public Advocacy, which has had to reduce its caseload  As many as 100 positions will go unfilled, which translates into caseloads of over 530 cases for each lawyer.  Powell points out that by extension, the lack of adequate funding of public advocacy undermines the very core of justice in Kentucky, as "defense lawyers will be unable to provide competent representation to clients who face the loss of their liberty."  More excerpts from "A constitutional crisis in the commonwealth" are below.

Perhaps the most devastating aspect of the $2.3 million budget cut is its impact on the constitutional mandate, under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, for the effective assistance of defense counsel in criminal prosecutions....

Our pursuit of justice for all will be illusory if we continue on this path. Recognizing the many challenges, fiscal and otherwise, that we face, our goal should be the pursuit of fundamental fairness through a fully funded DPA.

CEDRIC MERLIN POWELL

 An article in the Herald-Leader about the Chamber of Commerce's plan to make college more affordable.  Chamber President David Adkisson acknowledges that "tuition increases are 'working against our bigger goals... If we're going to double the number of graduates in the state, we can't be passing on a greater and greater burden to the family.'â€  Well said.  But is the plan based on any sense of Kentucky's economic reality?  Hmm... Richard Crofts, the interim president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, "worries that the chamber proposal doesn't consider reduced state funding to universities," or the impact that education costs are having on Kentucky families:

It doesn't really address the shared responsibility of the state in terms of supporting the universities,â€ Crofts said. "They're talking about adding a potentially significant amount of money.â€

In addition, he said, many families can't afford to pay what the federal guidelines tell them is expected.

"When most families fill out the form and see what the federal government expects them to pay, they're shocked, and that's why we have students borrowing so much,â€ he said.

And speaking of economic realities, big thanks to Beth Bissmeyer for posting David Hawpe's column in yesterday's Courier-Journal, "OK, fellow Kentuckians, here we go, by the numbers."

In case you missed it, the column started out with a little quiz about Kentucky, informed by the Congressional Quarterly's "A Statistical View of the 'Bluegrass State,' 2008."  Kentucky has the most coal mines and the highest percentage of adults who smoke.  Kentucky also has the highest percentage of increase in public campus college tuition between 1998 and 200.   And we have the highest percentage of increase in high school students who carried a weapon between 2003 and 2005, as well as the biggest jump in the juvenile arrest rate for violent crime.  

Here are some excerpts, with a few edits here and there, and some bolded suggestions for skimming.  Thanks Beth!

[The report is] just the thing with which to settle in a chair, sip bourbon and contemplate the state that has given you Henry Clay and John Breckinridge, Alben Barkley and John Sherman Cooper -- and more recently, Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell.

Some of these numbers might fool you. For example, how can Kentucky have the most coal mines when its two senators, the aforementioned Bunning and McConnell, are never in the forefront of any effort to save and protect miners with more regulation and tougher enforcement?...

If you or some member of your family is, or recently has been, a student at one of our state's public colleges and universities, I suspect you got question No. 3 right. And the trend continues. We're way behind when it comes to producing the kinds of high school graduates who go on to finish their college degrees and stick around to bolster the state's intellectual capital (the only kind that counts for much these days). But, boy, do we know how to block tax increases, starve government into submission and discourage college enrollment with relentless tuition hikes....

Without change, we'll stay near the bottom in percentage of population with bachelor's degrees. (We're a miserable 48th, according to this book.)

Since we refuse to fund education effectively, it's no surprise that we're fourth in percentage of the population still in poverty, third in percentage of senior citizens stuck below the poverty line, ninth in percentage of poor children, fifth in families living in poverty....

The percentage increase in the juvenile arrest rate, not only for violent crime but also for property crime, is highest here in Kentucky. They ought to be in school -- in properly financed schools.

The final question:

Kentucky should (a) abandon hope, (b) fuggeddaboutit, (c) sip more bourbon, (d) insist that Frankfort politicians raise enough new revenue to give the state a fighting chance at educating its young folks and preparing them for success in a modern economy?

I think that Beth votes for (d), along with all the teachers who try their best with shoestring budgets; parents who learn that their kids' after-school programs are cut, or that they aren't able to bring their textbooks home from school; and high-school students who are still trying to figure out how to afford even the first year of college, let alone the next three.  I suspect that we could add people who see the value of mental health facilities and structures for public safety and environmental quality, too.  Thanks to all of you who've been getting this message to Governor Beshear and your elected officials!  Keep it up!