education

The superintendent of Owensboro Public Schools cautions against reading too much into new statewide test scores released this week.  The state has launched a new system to measure school performance, and Nick Brake says there’s always a dip in scores anytime a new accountability model is rolled out.

“Tradionally, what happens when you change things like this is the scores dip, and everybody points to the crisis in our public schools, and that we have, you know, fewer students doing this. And while there may be some truth to that, at the same time, there’s also just a measurement situation. Anytime you make those changes you’re going to see that dip," Brake said.

Elizabethtown and Somerset Community Colleges are holding recruiting events Thursday and Friday for Boeing manufacturing positions in Washington state. The company is offering up to $20,000 for relocating.  

Boeing is looking for people with skills in electrical technology, engineering and electronics technology and industrial maintenance technology. Butch Tincher is an instructor at Somerset Community College. He said Boeing’s hiring exam mirrors the school’s exit exam.

Next month the Kentucky Board of Education will consider implementing new high school graduation requirements geared towards making sure students are ready to enter the workforce or pursue higher education.

The proposed requirements include mandating that students pass “foundation” reading and math exams before they can receive their diploma and meeting benchmark test scores or participating in vocational programs to prove they’re ready to find employment or continue academic pursuits.

The Jefferson County Board of Education has voted 4-3 in favor of an agreement with the Kentucky Department of Education. The settlement agreement avoids JCPS and the state facing off at a hearing regarding a potential state takeover.

The terms of the agreement include:

• the Kentucky Department of Education will complete another management audit of JCPS by September 15, 2020;

Western Kentucky University has announced it raised a record amount of private financial support during the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The school says it raised $45 million—a nearly 24-percent increase over the previous fiscal year’s record-breaking total.

The private contributions given last fiscal year came from more than 14,000 donors from all 50 states.

Three graduates of Western Kentucky University are being inducted into the school’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni this fall.

Becky Ann Baker is a 1975 WKU graduate and Broadway, film, and TV character actress. She’s appeared in two Judd Apatow series, Freaks and Geeks, and the HBO blockbuster Girls.

Nettie Depp was a 1910 graduate of Southern Normal School, the forerunner of WKU, and studied under WKU founder and first president Henry Hardin Cherry.

The governing body of Western Kentucky University made a $388,000,000 decision on Friday. 

The Board of Regents approved a budget that will increase tuition and fees by four percent for the next academic year.  The increase will fund four percent raises for faculty and staff, their first substantial salary increase in a decade.

The estate of a longtime Western Kentucky University supporter is pledging a $10 million endowment for student scholarships.

Annual investment earnings from the endowment will be added to the Jerry E. Baker Student Scholarship Fund, which was initially created by a direct bequest by Baker, who passed away last June.

Baker was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the Baker Arboretum and Downing Museum in Warren County.

The new scholarship fund will provide support to WKU students who major or minor in music, dance, theatre, art, or horticulture.

The Western Kentucky University Finance and Budget Committee has agreed to send the full Board of Regents a proposed spending plan that increases student tuition and fees, as well as employee salaries.

The proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would increase undergraduate tuition by four-percent, and add $50 to the online course fee assessed to full-time students.

Louisville’s practice of busing students around the city to try and create more diverse schools is under fire again as Kentucky education officials consider whether to take over management of the district.

Jefferson County Public Schools’ Student Assignment Plan lets students apply to groups of schools based on their address. In a massive state audit of JCPS released last week, interim education commissioner Wayne Lewis said the Student Assignment Plan negatively impacts minority students and that it “serves some, but not all students.”

The president of Western Kentucky University unveiled phase two of the school’s budget cuts on Thursday. WKU President Timothy Caboni says this second round of cuts will result in $14 million in savings. The two rounds of budget cuts amount to $27 million.

The second round of cuts includes 10 filled staff positions and the elimination of 20 vacant positions. Of those 20, 12 are faculty and eight are staff.  The specific positions will be announced in about week, after employees are notified.