'The political arm of the Kentucky Education Association has endorsed a state Senate candidate who received his bachelor's degree from a institution that one federal agency has described as a "diploma mill."

The Kentucky Educator's Political Action Committee recently changed its position to recommend Democratic candidate Douglas Goodman instead of Republican Sen. Elizabeth Tori in the 10th Senate District, which covers Hardin County and a sliver of Jefferson County

KEPAC initially picked Tori as the recommended candidate, but switched to Goodman after Tori indicated in a forum that she would be open to a pilot program for school vouchers. The teachers' lobby opposes vouchers, which allow students who want to attend private schools to get government subsidies.

Goodman, a Hardin County magistrate who manages a construction company, says he received his bachelor's degree from Kennedy-Western University, an unaccredited institution based in Wyoming.

John Warren, state consultant for KEPAC, said Goodman's educational background wasn't an issue in his endorsement interview.

"We would not have the resources to research that closely," Warren said. "The more pressing thing that our folks are interested in is not where candidates have gotten a degree or if they got a degree, but how they look at public education and how it should be funded by the General Assembly."

Goodman said he is firmly against vouchers and noted that he is a product of Hardin County public schools.

Goodman's resume says he attended Eastern Kentucky University in 1988 and the University of Kentucky in 1989, then graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business administration in 2005 from Kennedy-Western.

He said he was "very pleased with their curriculum." He said he took online courses for 28 months that were similar to classes a friend was taking through Sullivan University at the time. Goodman added that he wrote a 75-page thesis on electricity deregulation in order to get his Kennedy-Western degree.

In September 2004, the Government Accountability Office released a report that found federal agencies had spent at least $169,000 for their employees to obtain degrees from two so-called "diploma mills," California Coast University and Kennedy-Western University.

The GAO report defined diploma mills as "non-traditional, unaccredited, post-secondary schools that offer degrees for a relatively low flat fee, promote the award of academic credits based on life experience, and do not require any classroom instruction."

The report, however, also noted that no "uniform verification process" exists for such institutions, particularly online degree programs.

Kennedy-Western's Web site does promote how it "recognizes the inherent value of work experience" through its distance courses.

Some states, including Oregon and California, have refused to recognize Kennedy-Western degrees.'