Panel Discussion: What’s Next for Kentucky Schools?: The Outlook for K–12 under President Trump

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 4:30 - 6pm

Gatton 307 - Woodward Hall

Join the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise for the panel discussion "What’s Next for Kentucky Schools?: The Outlook for K–12 under President Trump" on March 30^th, 2017.

The panel discussion will feature Dr. Ron Zimmer, Professor and Director of the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Kentucky; Dr. Joseph Waddington, Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky; Dr. Wayne D. Lewis, Jr., Executive Director of Education Policy and Programs at the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky; and Dr. John Garen, BB&T Professor of Economics at the University of Kentucky and Director of the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise. Panelists will explore the challenges facing K–12 schools in Kentucky. President Trump recently called education “the civil rights issue of our time” and campaigned for a $20 billion school choice program. The Institute has assembled an expert panel of academics and policymakers that will debate on school choice, vouchers, and charter schools.

The event is free and open to the public. Please join us in Gatton B&E Woodward Hall, room 307, from 4:30pm to 6:00pm.

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Speakers

Ron Zimmer Professor and Director of the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Kentucky

Ron Zimmer is a Professor and Director of the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Kentucky. Prior to coming to the University of Kentucky, Dr. Zimmer was a faculty member at Vanderbilt University and spent a number of years at the RAND Corporation. Dr. Zimmer has been coeditor for Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and associate editor for Economics of Education Review. He is currently a board member of both journals. Dr. Zimmer's research focuses on school choice and school finance which has led to a number of scholarly articles, book chapters, and monographs. Much of this research has been funded by an array of foundations, state governments, and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

Joseph Waddington Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, University of Kentucky

R. Joseph Waddington is an Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. Prior to joining the University of Kentucky in 2015, he was a postdoc and research associate at the University of Notre Dame Institute for Educational Initiatives. Dr. Waddington’s primary line of research focuses on the variation in impacts of K-12 school choice programs and policies, including charter schools and private school voucher programs, using quasi-experimental research methods. Dr. Waddington earned a Ph.D. in Educational Studies and an M.A. in statistics from the University of Michigan as well as a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame.

Wayne D. Lewis, Jr. Executive Director of Education Policy and Programs, Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet | Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Kentucky

Wayne D. Lewis, Jr. is the Executive Director of Education Policy and Programs in the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and an Associate Professor of Education Leadership in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. He has peer-reviewed publications in the Journal of Education Policy. Dr. Lewis runs a blog on educational policies. He received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in 2009. He has taught in public school districts in Louisiana and North Carolina.

John Garen BB&T Professor of Economics, University of Kentucky

John Garen is the BB&T Professor of Economics in the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky and is the founding director and an affiliate of the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise. He has been a member of the Gatton faculty since 1985. Dr. Garen received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1982 and has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago, a Visiting Scholar at the Mercatus Center, at National Sun Yat-Sen University, and at National Taiwan Normal University, and is a member of the Mercatus Center’s Faculty Network and of the Board of Scholars for the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions. From 2005-2009 he served as Department Chair and during 2004-2005 he was Co-Director of the Gatton College’s Center for Business and Economic Research. Dr. Garen’s interests have focused on the economics of organizations, labor and human resource economics, and the role of government in society. He has conducted research on a wide variety of economic issues, leading to over thirty-five publications in many of the foremost academic journals, as well as numerous reports and manuscripts. Based on this experience, Dr. Garen has generated a flow of opinion columns, media work, and presentations to the public on the economy and economic issues, and on the importance of economics to good public policy.