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Community College Week
November 24, 2003
Ky. College Gets New President
Dr. Jay K. Box was recently tapped to be president of Hazard Community and
Technical College in Hazard, Ky. Box most recently served as vice president
of instruction for McLennan Community College in Texas. He received his associate's
degree from Howard Community College in Big Spring, Texas, his bachelor's degree
from Southwest Texas State University, his master's degree from Texas Tech University
and his doctorate from Baylor University.
The Courier-Journal
November 21, 2003
Fletcher appoints Fox to lead Education Cabinet
LEXINGTON, Ky. — In his first cabinet appointment, Gov.-elect Ernie Fletcher
tapped the former executive director of Kentucky's public television system
to oversee the state Education Department and affiliated offices.
Virginia Fox, who helped launch Kentucky Educational Television in 1968 and
who resigned as its executive director last December after 11 years, was named
by Fletcher yesterday as his choice for secretary of the Education, Arts and
Humanities Cabinet.
"Education is one of my highest priorities and it's most fitting, I think,
to announce the secretary of education as the first announcement of cabinet
secretaries," Fletcher said at a news conference at Northern Elementary
School in Lexington, where he and Fox were surrounded by dozens of students.
"As I've worked with Ginny Fox, I've just found her to be a tremendous
leader, someone who has a great deal of intellect, a tremendous amount of innovation."
Wes Irvin, a spokesman for Fletcher, said there is no specific timetable for
the announcement of other cabinet secretaries. "We want to take our time
and make sure we get the best caliber and quality of folks around us as we can,"
Irvin said.
Fox, 64, changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican on Wednesday,
according to the state Board of Elections. Irvin said that was Fox's personal
choice.
Fletcher had earlier appointed Fox as leader of the transition team reviewing
the education, arts and humanities cabinet and to his 15-member Blue Ribbon
Commission studying the efficiency and organization of state government.
Fox said yesterday that because she knew Fletcher wanted her to consider the
cabinet job, she has taken a hands-off role on the cabinet review and won't
be involved in the reviewers' final report.
Fletcher formally asked her to become the secretary late last week, Fox said.
She said the transition team is asking cabinet employees about the cabinet's
mission, the roadblocks to achieving the mission and resources needed to achieve
it.
The cabinet includes the nearly 700-employee Education Department, the Teachers'
Retirement System, KET, the Kentucky Historical Society, the Department for
Libraries and Archives and several smaller offices.
In the case of the Education Department, the education, arts, and humanities
secretary oversees the agency. But state education policy is set by a governor-appointed
board that hires the education commissioner.
Fletcher, the Republican congressman from the 6th District, was elected governor
on Nov. 4, defeating Democrat Ben Chandler, the state's attorney general, by
a 10-percentage point margin. He will be inaugurated Dec. 9.
At the news conference yesterday, Fletcher and Fox focused their comments on
education. Asked whether he plans to spin off arts and humanities, Fletcher
said the cabinet is still under review, but "at this point I suspect (arts
and humanities) will remain a part of this cabinet."
Fox said she is waiting to see what the blue ribbon commission recommends for
the cabinet. But she said as secretary she would call attention to the need
for education from "womb to tomb."
"Providing seamless education and seamless learning opportunities is a
very important discussion," Fox said. "It will not be solved in one
day, one month or one year."
Sen. Lindy Casebier, R-Louisville, chairman of the Senate Education Committee,
said he hoped the Education, Arts and Humanities Cabinet would remain intact
"because arts and humanities are an integral part of the education of the
total child."
During his campaign for governor, Fletcher said his education priority would
be to make sure all students enter the third grade being able to read at that
level. Fox said she looked forward to meeting that challenge and cited Northern
Elementary, where more than 80 percent of the students read on grade level last
year, as an example.
"This is a school where children are self-disciplined," Fox said.
"They take responsibility for their own behavior and their own learning,
with the guidance of expert teachers who have the resources in their classroom,
right in the classroom, not up here in the principal's office, not in (the superintendent's)
office."
Fletcher's education platform called for expansion of the state grant program
for early childhood reading programs and for testing of first-graders' reading
levels. And he pledged to review how much state money sent to school districts
is used in the classroom.
Meantime, the state is facing an estimated $262million revenue shortfall in
the current fiscal year, and departing Gov. Paul Patton said he won't order
cuts to cover it before he leaves office. Fletcher has said he can balance the
budget by making government more efficient and cutting waste while not raising
taxes or cutting services, including education.
But some school officials have called on the state to provide more funding.
The Council for Better Education, representing more than 160 school districts,
has sued the General Assembly, arguing that the state has failed to adequately
fund education.
Fayette County Schools Superintendent Ken James, who attended Fletcher's news
conference, said state funding for education, as a percentage of the General
Fund, has dropped from 48 percent to 41 percent in recent years. He said the
local government's contribution to his system increased $2million from last
school year to the current year, while the increase at the state level was $125,000.
James said his district is planning for a cut this year of between 2 percent
and 5 percent of the more than $58million the state provides. A 5 percent cut
would be about $2.9million.
Fox said her focus as secretary would be on early childhood reading and adult
literacy. She said "the single most important determining factor"
of early success in school is whether parents read to the child.
Asked if she would seek changes in the Kentucky Education Reform Act, Fox said,
"We're looking at that and taking the best advice we can get." But
she said that she's hearing that KERA "is done remarkably well."
KERA is the 1990 law that established high curriculum standards for students
and an accompanying testing program.
Under Kentucky law, the state Board of Education, and not the cabinet secretary,
sets state education policy. The board is appointed by the governor and approved
by the General Assembly. The state board hires the education commissioner, who
is responsible for ensuring that the Education Department carries out the policies
established by the board.
Four of the 11 appointed members of the state board — Commissioner Gene
Wilhoit and Council on Postsecondary Education President Tom Layzell also sit
on the board because of the offices they hold — expire in April.
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