Wednesday, January 13, 2010

School News from Around Kentucky

Schools honored for reading efforts: Students and teachers at two public schools in Jefferson County were honored Tuesday by Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson, Superintendent Sheldon Berman and Greater Louisville Inc. President Joe Reagan for making significant gains in reading. Western High School and Hazelwood Elementary School are among 22 schools across the district that received the mayor’s 2009 Top Apple award. (Toni @ C-J)

State budget cuts could hurt Clark County: Gov. Steve Beshear announced last week that school districts across the state will have to absorb another 3 percent cut in non-SEEK funds this spring. While that was lower than the 6 percent cut the districts had earlier been warned could be coming, it once again leaves districts scrambling to find ways of cutting already lean budgets that have been reduced by more than 20 percent over the past three years. Superintendent Elaine Farris said school districts like Clark County, which rely on state funding for more than half of their yearly budgets, are the ones most affected by the continued cuts. (Winchester Sun)

Foothills wins funding for Early Head Start program: Kentucky River Foothills Community Action Partnership has received a $1.3 million federal to begin an Early Head Start program in Madison, Estill, Clark and Powell counties.Early Head Start serves children who are under age 3 years from low-income families, said Phillis Adams, Head Start director for Kentucky River Foothills.The program initially will serve 84 children beginning in September. (Richmond Register)

House OKs bill to help struggling schools improve - Federal funding is being sought: House Bill 176, approved 96-0, is the first bill to pass the House this session. It could result in “significant funding for Kentucky schools,” Rep. Carl Rollins, the Midway Democrat who is the bill's sponsor, told House members during debate. The bill would let school districts close low-performing public schools and restart them under the management of a private or nonprofit operator known as an educational management organization. (C-J)

JCPS supports bid for grant - Board backs planfor Race to the Top: The Jefferson County Board of Education voted unanimously Monday night to approve a memorandum of understanding with the Kentucky Department of Education in support of the state's Race to the Top grant application. Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday attended the meeting to ask the board for its support. “We will not get this application (approved) without the support of our largest school district,” he told board members. The state is asking for a $200million chunk of the $4.35billion federal grant, which is part of the federal stimulus money. The grant process pits states against one another and rewards those that develop innovative education reforms. Holliday said that as of Monday, 172 of the state's 174 districts had signed on to support the state's application and he expected the final two districts to do so by Wednesday. (C-J)

Discusson focuses on costly problem of Kentucky's dropouts: People need to begin thinking of dropping out of high school as more than just a tragedy that can doom a person to a life of low-paying jobs and as a huge monetary drag on government services that will cost taxpayers for years to come. (C-J)

Stumbo asks legislators for tax reform plan: After years of little movement, a push to overhaul Kentucky's tax structure and possibly correct the state's perennially unbalanced checkbook is gaining steam. House Speaker Greg Stumbo has asked key legislators who have been pushing for a retooling of the tax system to come up with a proposal that could be considered this legislative session, potentially as a solution to a possible $1.5 billion shortfall in the next two-year state budget. Lawmakers have known for years that the state's checkbook is unbalanced. Since 2000, the General Assembly has spent about $3.6 billion more from the General Fund than the state collected in revenues. A major cause of the cash crisis is that revenue from key taxes has not kept pace with growth in the economy, which has become increasingly dominated by largely untaxed service industries... (H-L)

Former Dunbar baseball coach gets probation: Mickey Marshall, former baseball coach at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, was sentenced Friday in Fayette Circuit Court to two years probation on misdemeanor charges of theft "by failure to make a required disposition." The theft charges involved money from the baseball booster club. If Marshall violates his probation, the maximum penalty is a one-year jail sentence. Marshall led the Lexington school to two state championships and was named the 2007 coach of the year by the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association. (H-L)

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