Sound off at forums

The first of nine public forums will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Covington's Holmes High School, 2500 Madison Ave. For other forums around Kentucky, as well as a list of topics being discussed, go to Kentucky college.

Tom Layzell, president of Kentucky's Council on Postsecondary Education, warns the state needs to pick up the pace to keep raising graduation rates and achieve ambitious goals set by House Bill 1 in 1997. Those goals include making the University of Kentucky a top 20 research institution.

The council is holding public forums to ask if Kentucky is aiming at the right goals, what will it take to achieve them and how can residents pressure the system to improve. Residents should seize this chance to help shape Kentucky higher education. College degrees deliver much higher average lifetime earnings, and an educated work force attracts new businesses to the state.

Layzell, a former Mississippi commissioner of higher education, hails Kentucky's gains in college enrollment, including a 57 percent increase for community and technical colleges since 1998. But he doesn't sugar-coat low graduation rates or loss of graduates to other states.

As of 2002, only 15 of every 100 Kentucky ninth-graders went on to graduate from college. That was up from 13 per 100 in 2000, but is below the national average of 18.

"Right there is the more serious brain drain," Layzell said. How can the state graduate more students and raise transfer rates from two-year to four-year programs? In Mississippi, he found a transfer committee made a big difference just by resolving disputes over transferring course credits. It's all about alignment - aligning high school programs with colleges, and colleges with workplace needs.

After the public forums, a second round is planned with higher education providers. Both rounds could impact whether Kentucky higher education keeps improving.