education

Kentucky’s education chief is warning of an estimated $40 million shortfall in funding to school districts this academic year. The shortfall is in the SEEK program, which is the state’s main funding formula for public K-12 schools.

A restroom area under construction at a new middle school in Lexington drew the attention of several Kentucky lawmakers Tuesday during a legislative committee meeting, leading some to consider potential legislation to prevent other schools from following a bathroom model for gender-neutral spaces.

The bungled rollout of a new federal student aid form has left students in Kentucky and across the nation in limbo, some wondering if their college dreams will become reality.

Kentucky’s next commissioner of education Robbie Fletcher said he wants to reform school accountability measures, like testing, and change the conversation about teaching.

Tammy Blackwell serves as director for the Marshall County Public Library System in far western Kentucky. She was recently elected as the new chair of the The Kentucky Public Library Association. She hopes to advocate for the state’s public libraries and promote the ways those institutions are evolving to meet the needs of their patrons.

HB 2, one of the most controversial measures of the session, will put a question on the November ballot asking if voters want lawmakers to change the Kentucky Constitution so that they can “provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools.”

House Bill 208 would amend parts of the Kentucky Constitution that have so far foiled efforts by some Republicans to fund a private school scholarship program and other educational programs outside the public school system.

The Kentucky Board of Education is on the hunt for the state’s next top education official. The board posted the job opening for Kentucky commissioner of education online Monday, with the help of McPherson & Jacobson, an executive search firm.

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.