By GINA KINSLOW
GLASGOW — A few years ago, Tim England traveled by school bus to Washington D.C. to demonstrate at the Capitol for public schools.
That act, along with many others, led to his nomination for the Kentucky School Board Association’s KIDS First Advocacy Award.
England, who is vice chair of the Barren County Board of Education, received the award last Friday during the KSBA convention in Louisville. He was one of four people state-wide to receive the award, which was established by KSBA to honor local and state leaders who work on behalf of Kentucky’s public schools.
“I’m honored and humbled and I think it’s a great reflection of the people of our school district and the people of Barren County who support the school district,” said England.
England, who is a former member of the KSBA board of directors, also served on KSBA’s legislative committee and was recently appointed vice chairman of the KIDS First political action committee.
“I’m honored to serve in this role and my goal as co-chair is to create awareness of the board members so they can support the PAC and create some ownership of the board members,” England said.
The KIDS First PAC was created about three years ago. This year it was expanded to include the Kentucky Superintendents’ Association.
England co-chairs the PAC with Darrell Treece, superintendent of Adair County Schools.
“Organizations like KSBA are fairly strictly regulated in terms of contributions, political parties and candidates,” said Bill Scott, executive director with KSBA. “A lot of organizations form these PACs and basically allow them to raise money to advance their political views in a variety of ways. So, what it basically does is it allows us to take contributions from members and then those monies are used for a variety of issues/purposes.”
According to Scott, the KIDS First PAC is a bipartisan organization.
KSBA also uses the money to allow members to attend political functions so that KSBA is not only visible, but allows interaction with the leadership of the state Senate and the House of Representatives, he said.
KSBA invited the Kentucky Superintendents’ Association to join the PAC this year, Scott said, because KSBA believes there is strength in numbers.
“By pooling political contributions under the umbrella of this PAC, we think it will strengthen the influence of superintendents and school board members,” he said.
Recently, the KIDS First PAC has had to take a defensive stance with the state budget, England said.
The one issue that was of prime interest to those involved with the PAC was full state funding for all-day kindergarten and extended preschool services.
“We are still pushing for that,” England said “Research shows that is a great benefit for students, but with the reality of the budget situation we have had to resort to a defensive posture. That’s still at the top of our list, but that will probably have to wait.”
