Kentucky Chamber of Commerce CEO Ashli Watts said Monday that the Kentucky Business-Education Roundtable will push for key initiatives to support education and workforce development during the 2020 General Assembly.
The Roundtable, convened by the Chamber, is a group of public- and private-sector leaders working collaboratively on a long-term plan to fuel improvements in the state’s education attainment and workforce quality.
Watts noted the group identified four central goals in its initial report, Striving to be Top Tier for Talent:
– Invest in early childhood, to give kids a solid start
– Reinvent high school, to make a diploma relevant for the modern economy
– Ensure every adult obtains a marketable degree or credential
– Engage employers to define needed skills and develop talent supply chains
From that report, officials said the Roundtable has identified priority recommendations for consideration by the General Assembly. It also noted the need for adequate resources to fund improvements.
The Roundtable’s legislative focus for the 2020 General Assembly will also include funding requests for several programs and campaigns including the creation of a branded statewide communications and marketing campaign to deliver relevant messages about education’s value at all levels; funding to provide greater access to state child-care assistance for working parents; and fully funding all-day kindergarten with the provision that districts repurpose current locally provided kindergarten funding to 0 -to-third grade programs.
In addition, Watts said the Roundtable will support initiatives that are expected to originate in the General Assembly, including:
– The creation of an Early Childhood Education Task Force
– Third-grade reading and math proficiency legislation that relies on research and evidence of best practices and outcomes, with funding from redirected state grant money.
Watts, who spoke at the Kentucky Chamber’s 2020 Legislative Preview Conference, also noted that the Roundtable will continue to pursue other initiatives identified in the report in addition to the initial priorities.
