Andy Beshear was elected Governor of Kentucky in 2019 against Matt Bevin, a hard-right Republican who supported charters and vouchers and fought to reorganize teachers’ pension fund. Beshear, who was State Attorney General, successfully blocked Bevin’s efforts to harm teachers’ pensions.
Andy Beshear is the son of a Kentucky Governor, Steve Beshear (Governor from 2007-2015), and a graduate of Henry Clay High School in Lexington. Andy ran on a program championing public schools. He chose a teacher, Jacqueline Coleman, as his running mate.
Beshear narrowly beat Bevin, and he and Coleman are the only elected Democrats at the state level (remember, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul are Kentucky’s Senators).
He is running for re-election this year. He leads the polls over all his GOP competitors. His favorability rating is about 60%.
Last year, the legislature passed a bill to authorize charter schools. Governor Beshear vetoed it.
Please listen to his message when he vetoed it.
This is how Democrats win election. By speaking to the 85-90% of people whose children are in public schools and to the 90% who graduated public schools. They want better schools. They like their schools and their teachers. Andy Beshear knows it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Edit your first sentence. Although perhaps not ,Andy Beshear also expanded Medicaid in Kentucky a dirt poor state. Tennessee another dirt poor state did not.
“Andy Beshear was elected Governor of Tennessee”
Of course, you mean Kentucky.
Not only did Andy Beshear defeat the incumbent Governor Matt Bevin, who made a point of demonizing public school teachers every chance he could, but Beshear was the only Democrat to win statewide office in Kentucky that year.
I look forward to hearing his remarks. Thank you, Diane!
A few years ago, I got into a conversation with my niece’s husband about “failing” public schools. His boys were not yet school age and he wanted the “best” for them, so he was advocating for private school because in his family, no one attended public schools. On his wife’s side it’s public schools all the way down.
I told him that teachers in privates did not need to be certified, and were often underpaid. Then I commented that 90% of the US attends public schools and we have the largest economy in the world. If the schools are failures, how to reconcile those two things?
It brought him up short. They live in New Hampshire and are opposed to school vouchers because their children are flourishing in their public schools. A small victory.
This is a bit more comprehensive list of Nobel Prize recipients’ high schools than I summarized in an earlier post. Note the American public high schools and recite some of the facts next time you see him to see a head implode on itself:
https://zims-en.kiwix.campusafrica.gos.orange.com/wikipedia_en_all_nopic/A/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_secondary_school_affiliation
Andy Beshear knows the value of public education from his own experience. He also understands that in a mostly rural, poor white state with limited resources public schools are the most efficient and effective way to consolidate and spend tax dollars. He also saw first hand the profiteering waste and fraud of for profit charter schools during his time as attorney general. More Democrats should be trying to protect their public schools from privatizing parasites trying to leech on to unaccountable public funds.
This is great news and a minor miracle. A politician that has not been bought off by the school privatizers and is pro the actual real public schools as opposed to charter schools. And in a red state! Amazing.
Can you imagine public dollars being diverted away from private companies? You know, turn off the spigot for government subsidies to private business? Oh, the outrage. Every weapons manufacturer and private contractor and their surrogates (the Elon Musks and Charles Kochs) would be freaking out because the “very fabric of our country’s identity is being threatened and all that nonsense.” Good old Hannity and Tucker Carlson’s heads would explode…hmm, wait a second, we might be onto something here.
It is refreshing to hear a politician dispassionately wresting back the narrative toward the public good and going on the affirmative to do so. Unheard of these days. Everybody is so stinkin’ strident and off-putting (especially in political theater), so this fella’s argument, logical and dispassionate, resonates quite deeply with me. Unfortunately, this governor is a standout when he should be commonplace.
and we have the largest
economy in the world…
“a thin veil to cover up crimes
which would disgrace a nation of
savages. There is not a nation on
the earth guilty of practices,
more shocking and bloody, than are
the people of these United States,
at this very hour. Go where you may,
search where you will, roam through
all the monarchies and despotisms
of the old world, travel through
South America, search out every abuse,
and when you have found the last,
lay your facts by the side of the
everyday practices of this nation,
and you will say with me, that,
for revolting barbarity and shameless
hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.”
Frederick Douglass
That was one of the best speeches I have ever heard explaining why public schools should be supported and fully funded, not charter schools. Democracy matters.
Our public schools were created upon Horace Mann’s notions of common schools based on the principles of democracy. Private entities exist for the purpose of putting money in the pockets of those who own and operate them.
I love our neighborhood public school where my 9 year old autistic grandson goes. He has made amazing progress since he started there and has typical developing students for classmates. They love Johnny and he is their friend. So do their parents know Johnny and say hello to him every morning as we walk our kids to school. Yay!!! Manoa elementary school in Havertown, PA.
He is now talking and learning to read with the help of a certified reading specialist paid for with my tax dollars. We have high hopes for him.
We are well aware that would not have happened, but for, the Manoa magic of Our public school?
The likes of Desantis and other culture warriors have given Democrats a huge opening should they take it. Run on supporting teachers and their schools. Point out the fact that our economy is resilient because 90% of Americans are public school educated. Public schools are the most effective way to serve students, families and their communities. It’s that simple. Republicans want an uneducated or indoctrinated populous. Democrats should want democracy. Democrats need to stop riding the fence on charters and choice and get on the side of funding better public schools. IT’s a winning formula.
Brilliant, should be sent to every Democratic legislator and school board member across your country.
Kentucky’s governor is Andy Beshears (D). Tennessee’s Gov is Bill Lee (R) who is a fundamentalist Christian Nationalist & extreme Libertarian. Lee’s goal is to end public education & all things public in TN. The laws he’s ushered thru our extremist GOP legislature are those identical to FL under DeSantis.
Yeah, we’d take Kentucky governor Beshears any time. We have been unblessed with governors in the last decade in TN; first Haslam, now Lee.
Too bad Kentucky has term limits. Maybe Jacqueline Coleman will run and become the governor after Beshear’s 2nd term ends.
Tell it to Governor Hochul, who wants to expand charter schools in NYC!
“Andy Beshear was elected Governor of Tennessee in 2019 against Matt Bevin”
Diane, this is typo. Beshear is a the governor of Kentucky, not TN. Unfortunately.
Good grief, Maté, I can’t believe my typo! As you can see from the rest of the post, I was writing about Kentucky. A senior moment.
We meant what you knew.