By Charles Wolfe
The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - Gov. Ernie Fletcher floated a wide-ranging but lightly detailed education initiative Friday night to an influential audience from all corners of academe.

He said he was trying to convey a vision, not a plan. "It was a beginning to really rekindle the fire for education," Fletcher told reporters afterward.

Highlights of his "educational vision" include:

• The Kentucky Education Reform Act passed in 1990 but the state still lags in adults with college degrees. It needs a "second generation of systemic refinement" to meet long-range education goals.

• "Longitudinal" testing to track students' progress year to year.

• Expanded university research labs.

Nearly 200 people packed the Executive Mansion for an invitation-only presentation.

The audience included university presidents, members of the Council on Postsecondary Education and state school board, leaders of the Kentucky Education Association, school administrators and education advocates.

Fletcher said it was "a good, broad spectrum of people who've been involved in education a long time."

Fletcher said major themes of the evening were about increasing teacher quality and teacher pay; an emphasis on early learning, including statewide, all-day kindergarten; and a role for the universities in economic development.

Fletcher also said he wanted to "eliminate the silos" of education - the separate realms of elementary and secondary schools, colleges and technical and adult education.

Left unanswered: the cost. "The big question mark," said Roger Marcum, superintendent of Marion County schools and vice president of the Kentucky Association of School Administrators.

University of Kentucky President Lee Todd said "money wasn't part of the discussion. It's going to have to be part of the discussion."