Kentucky School Advocate
September 2024
In Conversation With features an interview between a leader or figure involved in public education and a representative of the Kentucky School Advocate.
Matt Robbins recently retired as Daviess County Schools superintendent. As past president of the Council for Better Education, he’s now helping lead the charge against Amendment 2.
Q. Your seven-year tenure as superintendent of Daviess County Schools was about double the average tenure of most superintendents. What can school boards do to retain their chief administrators?
A. The key is working together as a team. That requires close communication, that requires relationship building so we understand one another and what we’re trying to accomplish. I think it’s very logical, and it’s been proven with research, that when the school board and the superintendent are a unified front, the school district blossoms and moves forward.
Turnover at any position, particularly at the superintendent level, is very costly. There’s certainly a shortage of individuals who are interested and willing to step out and enter the superintendent fray. We have a market condition here that’s become a pretty big indicator that we need to pay attention to school board members who need to try to get along. I always think one thing that’s very important is that we work together on the strategic plan that we’re trying to accomplish, so that it’s very abundantly clear what it is we’re trying to accomplish.
Q. KSBA considers superintendents a valuable part of a board team. In your experience, how do you nurture that team culture while still maintaining what are very clearly defined roles?
A. We have to educate ourselves as to what those roles are. I know KSBA does a really good job with that, with new school board members as well as ongoing school board members. Relationships are built on trust and mutual respect, and that doesn’t happen without spending time together, so the superintendents get to know them. I also think it’s very important that we value each other’s opinions. We don’t always agree, and we need to set an environment up where, when we disagree, we do that very civilly, professionally and in a manner that’s representative of the organization we serve.
Q. You retired in July after a lengthy career in public education but you are still staying very busy. What have you been up to?
A. I have continued to be really involved as past president of the Council for Better Education (CBE). In addition to that, I have been working with the Kentucky Association of School Administrators and their new superintendent onboarding program for a number of years, but I’ve agreed to come on as part-time faculty member of that program. We’ve already met a few times now with the new superintendents across the state. I’m continuing to do that and enjoy it.
Q. You have always been an outspoken advocate for public schools. Now, as a retired superintendent member of CBE leadership, you can more fully commit to that advocacy work in a way that you weren’t able to before. How does that compare?
A. Being an immediate former superintendent, I respect that role and what’s required of that role, and how we have to behave, because we’re representatives not only of our community, but for public education in Kentucky. I’ll still wear that hat because I think that’s important, but now I don’t have to be muted. Perhaps, when (superintendents) are muted, I can say things that they can’t say. There’s a freedom that goes along with that that really cannot be expressed in words.
Q. CBE was formed in 1984 to sue the legislature to ensure public schools received adequate funding, leading to the landmark Rose decision and the Kentucky Education Reform Act. Now, CBE is helping to lead the charge against Amendment 2, which would give lawmakers new power to direct public tax dollars to unaccountable private schools. Is there a sense of deja vu?
A. Yeah, it certainly is. I think about the individuals who were instrumental in leading back in the mid 80’s to 1990 and the courage it required. Sometimes it feels like we’re standing on the shoulders of those who’ve made those kinds of sacrifices. I always look at them with great admiration for what they did for us and what they’ve done for our kids, most importantly, and it somewhat comes with an obligation. We have an obligation, a responsibility that goes beyond what I think is good for me. It’s what’s good for kids and what presses that forward into our future that matters.
Q. School board teams, their districts and their students have a lot at stake on Amendment 2. What can school boards do to ensure their communities are informed and engaged on the issue?
A. Well, I think KSBA has put out some great guidance according to the law. I think it is critical that every school board member and school board as a whole get very familiar with that guidance, because I think it’s very well done. This is a landmark issue that impacts public education, so it’s very important for us to share the facts about vouchers and voucher-like policy that’s sure to follow, should this pass. It’s very important that we inform our communities. It would be derelict for us not, to the best of our abilities, make sure our citizens are properly informed.
Q. Many Kentuckians know nothing about the amendment. It’s a complicated issue but give us your elevator pitch for why voters should vote no on Amendment 2.
A. Voucher policy results in defunding our public schools. While we experienced a good (2024 state) budget, and we’re thankful for that, we still remain very far behind in terms of inflationary funding from where we’re supposed to be. All the evidence points to an average of about 75% of the students who receive vouchers are existing private school students. So, the state picks up a cost that they never had before, and that money has to come from somewhere.
And we all know private schools do their own choosing. There is no mandate that a private school has to accept that student. Vouchers tend to discriminate against vulnerable kids and families. So that would be our special needs population, our children in poverty and certainly a lot of our English learners. They’re not going to get accepted.
Our rural school districts will be hurt the most out of this. Where do most of the private schools exist? Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky. A concentration of our state tax dollars would be going away from the rural communities, our community schools, to the Golden Triangle.
Maybe the most critical piece is there’s no accountability for the private schools receiving funds. No financial accountability. No restrictions placed on raising of private school tuition. There’s no accountability on academics. Objective research yields that vouchers have no positive, in fact, have a net negative academic impact on students.
Q. What can we learn from this proposed amendment when there are no specific policies attached to it and we have been given very few details as to what may come as a result of its passage?
A. When you read the amendment language, it not withstands seven sections of our Constitution, meaning all of those sections would no longer apply. I would think even the people who are undecided on the issue have to look at this and say, this is a ginormous amendment to our state’s constitution. Is this too much too fast? Because we really don’t know all the ins and outs of this. We’re starting to hear some of the potential consequences of it. If any of those have any merit, we better hit the pause button here, because we’re getting ready to make a substantial change to a document that has served us pretty well for a long period of time.
It should tell us something when supporters of the amendment have to use language that’s misleading and inaccurate to try to sell something. And all of the rhetoric that goes along with it, like parents get education choice, when, in fact, that’s just not true. It’s not even misleading, it’s a bold-faced lie. That’s based on the research and evidence in other states.