education

School choice is a fraught issue within Kentucky’s Republican-led legislature. While lawmakers have passed measures like charter schools or private school scholarship tax credits before, they often scoot by with razor-thin margins and have been unable to survive legal challenges on state constitutional grounds.

Shane Baker, a third-grade teacher at Jennings Creek Elementary School, was surprised Thursday with the Milken Educator Award.

Kumar Rashad was named Kentucky’s high school teacher of the year earlier this fall. He is a longtime educator in Jefferson County Public Schools and was most recently teaching at Breckinridge Metropolitan High School, an alternative school that serves students who are involved in the criminal justice system.

Joey Kilburn, Director of Pupil Personnel for Simpson County Schools, told the Interim Joint Education Committee that the pandemic has had an “ongoing impact” on student attendance.

The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence has announced that Warren County will join its Kentucky Community Schools Initiative. The goal is to boost student outcomes, increase college enrollments, and improve the overall well-being of kids in high-poverty schools.

Most people who want to become certified teachers in Kentucky have to complete at least 70 days of full-time student teaching. Student teachers currently do not get paid for that work, which many say is a barrier to entering the profession.

Makenze Cameron said her husband, Kentucky’s one-term Republican attorney general, talked to the legislature’s GOP leaders before proposing his own plan which calls for a statewide base starting pay rate for new teachers at $41,500. It does not include raises for any current teachers.

Under the new law, which has been criticized as one of the worst anti-trans bills in the country, this school year is different for public school students across the state who identify as queer or transgender.

Republican state lawmakers want State Auditor Mike Harmon to conduct an audit of Jefferson County Public Schools, citing issues with transportation, management, safety and low standardized test scores.

A pair of recently announced grants are going to aid Kentucky Association for Environmental Education programs, including one aimed at increasing climate literacy among the state’s educators so that they can better teach their students.