Prichard Committee Celebrates Its Twentieth Anniversary

On June 7, 2003, members of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence and their friends and supporters gathered in Lexington, Kentucky to celebrate the Committee's 20th anniversary. Former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, a longtime supporter of education reform, summed up organization's accomplishments by saying, "No state in America has reformed K-12 education as thoroughly as Kentucky. The Prichard Committee led this effort with the involvement of state leaders and citizens, and they have set the standard for America."

This outcome could not have been expected in 1979, when the blue-ribbon panel that would become the Prichard Committee was appointed as the Committee on Higher Education in Kentucky's Future. Kentucky's leaders were concerned about what the substandard education system meant for the state's future. In the first five years, the Committee focused on higher education, recommending more cooperation among state universities, more rigorous admission standards for undergraduates, and higher standards in teacher preparation.

1983 ushered in the "Nation at Risk" era, at which point the Committee turned to K-12 education. In 1984, the Committee made a proposal to the General Assembly for a Fund for Academic Excellence, which recommended more money for scholarships, research, and professorships. When the Fund was rejected, the Committee decided to become an independent group. Bob Sexton, the current head of the Committee, identified this as "the turning point" for the group, which came to be known as the Prichard Committee after its head, Kentucky lawyer and politician Edward F. Prichard, Jr.

From 1984 to 1989, the Committee made a number of proposals that later became policy. Its 1985 report on K-12 education was largely adopted as the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court issued its unexpected opinion in Rose v. Council for Better Education that declared the entire state school funding system unconstitutional. This set the stage for the Act, which completely reformed the education system, setting up a 24-year timeline for students to meet new state standards and a funding mechanism to make improvement possible. The Fund also had great influence on Governor Paul Patton's 1997 higher education reforms.

One of the most successful strategies of the Prichard Committee was public engagement. From 1984 to 1989, the Committee sponsored 145 town forums to talk about public education with its stakeholders. After the Rose decision, the Committee repeatedly consulted the public for its input on the Act and its implementation. More recently, the Committee formed the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership, which holds conversations with parents and other concerned citizens. It is also formed Parent Leadership Associates (PLA), which markets the Committee's models for community participation nationwide.

The Prichard Committee's efforts have helped raise the quality of education in Kentucky and change its educational image from that of a backwater to that of a standards-based-reform leader. Nevertheless, Kentucky's education reforms continue to draw fire from conservatives and may be underfunded due to revenue shortfalls and tax structure problems.

Prepared June 13, 2003