First the board chair, now the commissioner. Fayette board member accused of misleading again.

More accusations that Fayette school board member Tyler Murphy is misleading people with his criticism of education decisions were made on Friday, this time from Kentucky’s Commissioner of Education.

Murphy was first accused of being untruthful at a May 20 Fayette County Public Schools’ board meeting by chairwoman Stephanie Spires when he said his questions were not being answered about the 2019-2020 budget and Spires responded, ”You cannot lie....”

Then, on Thursday, Murphy criticized draft changes to the state’s accountability system on Twitter, in response to an Insider Louisville article. Under a new state law, fewer schools across the state would be labeled as needing additional support as a result of the performance of any subgroup of students, including black children or those with special needs. It would mean that fewer schools would be labeled “TSI” -- needing targeted support and improvement. Dozens of schools were given that designation after statewide tests results were released in fall 2018.

Murphy said on Twitter, “Disappointing, but not surprising, that KDE (the Kentucky Department of Education) is looking to move the goal posts on our public schools yet again. This is why we can’t base policy or funding on flawed ‘accountability’ measures designed to lock schools into a narrative of failure. Our children deserve better.”

Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis tweeted in response: “Disappointing that a school board member would attempt to mislead the public (Fayette County) about the actions of the Kentucky Department of Education without doing his homework to understand what’s happening.”

Lewis told the Herald-Leader on Friday that he spoke out on Twitter because, “It’s really unfortunate that you would have somebody in a position of a school board member trying to mislead the public into thinking that KDE has some malicious intent or is taking actions to change the accountability system to make schools look like they are failing schools when the opposite has actually been occurring.”

Lewis said changes in the accountability law to reduce the schools labeled were made in the 2019 General Assembly with the support of education groups in Kentucky. Also, a college placement exam was added to measures which determine Kentucky students’ academic readiness, Lewis said. Superintendents agreed with that change, he said.

The Kentucky Department of Education has been seeking public comment through Friday May 31 on a draft state plan that reflects the new state law and has to be approved by the federal government. Another change about student academic growth was welcomed by educators and approved by the state board, Lewis said.

“We need people’s feedback,” said Lewis , “but we need people to respond to what we are actually doing, not what we’ve been mischaracterized as doing. ..what is not helpful is to have people upset or talking about something that’s not even in the document.”

In response, Murphy told the Herald-Leader Friday that he is happy to meet with Lewis and discuss the impact of the policies on public schools.

Murphy said his focus as a classroom teacher in Boyle County and as a Fayette school board member is on improving public education and there is nothing new about his concerns about the state accountability system, which he thinks was rolled out very quickly last fall.

Murphy said labeling schools and making it harder for schools to get educational resources from the state “doesn’t move public education forward.”

“Our number one focus has to be supporting our public schools using our resources wisely to benefit every child,” Murphy said. “Slicing and dicing our schools based on arbitrary guidelines (which are set by KDE) that keep changing and then basing policy decisions on those shifting guidelines is not productive nor is it wise. Too often, it traps schools into a label of “failure” that is deflating and difficult to escape. Our communities should expect better from their leaders.”

Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Jessica Fletcher said accountability designations are not directly tied to funding.

This story was originally published May 31, 2019 at 12:22 PM.