KERA was about so much more than per-pupil spending. And it was working.We only outspend Tenn by 14% per pupil. Maybe if we outspend them by 20% we could catch up.
That's one... Tenn has had dozens over the years and the co's specifically mentioned their state tax laws as the reason they moved there. We do give special deals to co's but why not just have a simple and lower tax policy that naturally attracts all kinds of business?
It's usually portrayed as NKY/Louisville versus the state, from my experience. Just from talking to people around the state.
Kentucky is just very old ways. My county didn't allow you to buy beer until like 6-7 years ago.
Lexington has changed a ton in the last 20 years in my opinion. Newport has too.
Trust me, what they don’t charge in State income tax—they make up for it in other ways.
The two most important factors of student performance in school are the zip code they reside and their parent’s W-2’s. More and more school funding has shifted from the state to the local school district. Students in more affluent areas have a larger tax base to provide what the state is not. The W-2 part is easy. If poverty and survival aren’t issues, parents and students can focus on educational performance; if it is an issue, educational performance gets pushed to the back burner.
The % of total $$ that goes to taxes is remarkably flat. For years and years. Over some span, the Feds take it, the cities take it, or the states. Excise taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, income tax whatever ... the % taken to run our common concerns stays flat. Florida, for example, is touted as a low tax state and people move there. They discover that their property taxes are higher and -- hidden tax -- their property insurance is 3-4 times the national average. We have relatives who were unhoused by the recent hurricane who need only an out-of-state job offer to get out.
For several years in the early oughts, we had to drive through Knoxville 10 or so times a year. It has always seemed to me to the biggest waste of a great location of any city I could think of. There are worse cities, but Knoxville's surrounding countryside is just lovely and the city really isn't.
I agree but as of late they are dumping money into it. Even putting a baseball stadium in the city and having a pedestrian area for shops and restaurants.
Agreed but there are pilot programs that go to bad schools and draw 20ish students out of a hat and put them through a program from 8th grade to graduation and they do remarkably well. The fact we don't expand what works shows how little politicians care about education.
Oh I think you can add Lexington to that "us vs. them" list as well. Two of our elected representatives, who represent part of Fayette County (Thayer, West) literally never have a nice thing to say about Lexington.
