KY Ed chief: We must address the opportunity gap

by Kirsten Clark , @kirstenlmclark – Community members pressed Kentucky Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt for clear answers Monday about how the state and Jefferson County Public Schools plan to ensure equity is at the forefront of education reform efforts in the age of the new Every Student Succeeds Act. “Our children are failing,” Louisville Urban League President…

Leadership stays the same for Senate GOP caucus heading towards 2017 session

by Nick Storm, @NickStorm_cn2 – Without much fanfare, the Senate Republican caucus re-elected their leadership team on Monday. The entire team of leaders includes Senate President Robert Stivers, Senate President Pro Tem David Givens, Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, Majority Caucus Chair Dan Seum and Majority Whip Jimmy Higdon. All were unopposed in this round of leadership elections.…

FEMA authorizes federal funds to help battle more Kentucky wildfires

By WYMT – ATLANTA, Ga. (WYMT) – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized federal funds to help Kentucky with the costs of recent forest fires in Harlan, Knox, Letcher, and Pike counties. This authorization makes FEMA grant funding available to reimburse 75 percent of the eligible firefighting costs for managing, mitigating and controlling the…

Kentucky’s school accountability system receives high marks from think tank

by Mike James The Daily Independent – WASHINGTON D.C. — A new study rates Kentucky’s educational accountability system highly for its encouragement of high schools that nurture high achieving students. The study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute notes Kentucky’s system gives additional credit to students for high achievement. The system measures student growth by taking into…