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SubscribeAccording to Kentucky’s The Family Foundation, nearly half the money contributed last year to a political action committee that opposed Republican candidates in state legislative races came from teacher’s PACS and teachers’ union PACs that oppose school choice and charter schools, and more than two-thirds of the contributions came from out-of-state.
Kentucky Family Values received $3,300,769 in the Fall 2016 general election, $1,375,000 that came from teachers’ PACs. And, of that $3,300,769, $2,216,279 came from out of state.
“Kentucky Family Values spent its money supporting Democrats and opposing Republicans in state legislative races,” said Martin Cothran spokesman for the group. “These are groups that represent the educational status quo in this state who are now asking the very people whose election they opposed to give credence to their arguments against parental choice.”
In the two months immediately prior to the Fall 2014 general election, Kentucky Family Values received $1,617,575, over half of which was from out-of-state entities and $650,000 of which was contributed by teachers’ groups.
The Energy and Environment Cabinet today announced two contests to protect the environment and to celebrate Earth Day.
For middle school students, the “Capture the Earth” photo contest seeks original photographs and for high school students, the “Capture the Earth” video contest seeks original videos. Both contests seek to celebrate the beauty and diversity of Kentucky.
Submissions should attempt to move viewers to care about the environment in Kentucky. The deadline for submissions for both contests is April 7, 2017 at 4:30 p.m.
You can enter the photo contest by sending your photo as an attachment to kidsphotocontest@ky.gov. Your photograph must be saved as a jpeg file. File sizes may not exceed 5MB. The subject line of your email should read STUDENT EARTH DAY PHOTO CONTEST.
You can enter the video contest by uploading your video to YouTube, making it public and emailing the link to: Lanny.Brannock@ky.gov. Your video must be saved as a YouTube link.
The subject line of your email should read STUDENT EARTH DAY VIDEO CONTEST.
For more details about the contest, please visit the Facebook page.
Additional information is available at http://eec.kentucky.gov
A rising junior at one of Kentucky’s public or private high schools will win a $500 scholarship and a photo shoot at his or her school through the “Promote Your School” scholarship contest, sponsored by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA).
The school must participate in the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program.
To enter, the student must submit an essay about one of these subjects:
- What my aspiration for my generation is.
- How education makes a stronger community.
The essay must be no more than 200 words long and cannot mention the student’s name, school, county or community. The essay topic must be shown at the top of the page. The student’s name, address and high school must be listed at the bottom of the essay. The student must be a junior during the 2017-2018 school year. For more information, visit www.kheaa.com/website/contest/intro.
Photos from the winning school will be used in KHEAA publications and on KHEAA websites.
To enter, mail your essay to KHEAA Publications, P.O. Box 798, Frankfort, KY 40602. You may also email your essay to publications@kheaa.com or fax it to (502) 696-7574. The winner will be chosen by a committee of KHEAA employees. The deadline for submissions is May 31.
Students from high schools that have been featured in the past five years — Daviess County, Lexington STEAM Academy, Somerset Christian, J. Graham Brown and Sacred Heart — are not eligible to enter this year’s contest.
KHEAA is the state agency that administers the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES), need-based grants and other programs to help students pay their higher education expenses.
For more information about Kentucky scholarships and grants, visit www.kheaa.com; write KHEAA, P.O. Box 798, Frankfort, KY 40602; or call 800-928-8926, ext. 6-7214.
Juniors in Kentucky public high schools will take the ACT on March 21. These tips from the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA) may help students do better on the test.
- Read, read, read. Most of the ACT is based on reading. The more you read, the better you’ll do.
- Take advantage of any free ACT prep courses offered by your school or by local colleges and libraries.
- Take practice tests online or buy practice tests for use at home.
- Familiarize yourself with the sections and directions.
- Get plenty of rest the night before, and eat a good breakfast that morning.
- Remember to take No. 2 pencils and a calculator if your school doesn’t provide them.
- Do the questions you can answer easily first, then come back to the harder questions, especially in the math portion.
- Guess if you have no idea what the answer should be. Guessing doesn’t hurt your score.
KHEAA is the state agency that administers KEES, need-based grants and other programs to help students pay for college.
For more information about Kentucky scholarships and grants, visit www.kheaa.com; write KHEAA, P.O. Box 798, Frankfort, KY 40602; or call 800-928-8926, ext. 6-7214.
Louisville’s fourth Financial Empowerment Summit will bring together local and national speakers, community leaders, service providers, and nonprofits and financial institutions eager to help individuals and families improve their financial well-being.
The Summit — presented by Metro United Way and Louisville Metro Community Services — will take place on Thurs. March 9, from 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at Bellarmine University, 2001 Newburg Road in the Amelia Brown Frazier Hall. More than 100 attendees are anticipated. They will participate in activities and workshops geared to build on their personal finances so they can better understand and secure their own financial success, and better assist with the financial success of their clients.
Registration can be made through March 3 on-line at http://www.cnpe.org/learnings/a051A00000FcS3kQAF. The $25 registration fee includes a continental breakfast, buffet lunch, all workshops, door prizes and giveaways.
The goal of financial empowerment is to help people make informed financial choices and to make progress toward their financial goals. This includes expanding financial literacy and education opportunities so people learn how to reduce debt and manage their budgets, build credit, and plan and save for long-term goals.
Theresa Reno-Weber, President and CEO of Metro United Way, and Eric Friedlander, director of Louisville Metro Community Services will jointly open the day sharing their support for Louisville’s community-wide financial empowerment efforts; and to encourage the strengthening of partnerships to meet the needs of our residents.
“Financial Empowerment is a key part of the work we do in Community Services”, stated Friedlander. “Our staff members continually seek new and innovative ways to help the clients we serve find the long-term path to economic stability. I look forward to the Summit to continue our community’s work together to build strategies that break the cycle of poverty.”
Keynote speakers at the Summit include:
- Kathleen Cooter, Bellarmine University Professor and former Executive Director for the Kentucky Council for Economic Education, will provide an overview about the importance of education achievement in relation to achieving life’s financial outcomes.
- Carl Rist, Director for Children’s Savings and Senior Advisor of Asset Building for CFED will discuss the impact Children’s Savings Accounts have in propelling children, especially low income children, to pursue postsecondary education.
- Lamar Davis, Community Affairs Specialist for FDIC will provide an overview of the FDIC’s commitment to expanding access to safe, secure and affordable banking services to better serve the unbanked and underbanked consumers.
- Alianna Havrilla, Community Coach, County Health Rankings and Roadmaps will explore the intersection of financial stability and health efforts to create healthier communities.
A variety of workshops will be offered at the event including, “Workplace Financial Education”, “Children’s Savings Accounts – A more in-depth exploration from Promise Indiana” and “Money Smart Tools and Resources”.
Also highlighted at the summit are lessons learned from the nearly 114 individuals representing 48 organizations who took part in the 2016 Personal Finance Empowerment Series (PFES). The series aimed to provide social service frontline staff with personal finance workshops to enable them to become more secure in their own financial situation.
The PFES series and the Financial Empowerment Summit are made possible by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation through a partnership with United Way Worldwide. Local partners include Louisville Metro Community Services and Metro United Way, with support from Apprisen, Louisville Urban League, Bellarmine University, AARP, the Kentucky Council for Economic Education, Quantum Communications, the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions and Fulton180 Coaching, Consulting and Training Projects.
Solution Tree, an educational publisher and professional development provider, has announced Fern Creek High School as the winner of the second annual DuFour Award.
Named in honor of Dr. Richard DuFour, the award was created to honor high-performing schools that demonstrate exceptional levels of student achievement. In a career that spanned four decades, Dr. DuFour was a teacher, principal, superintendent, and champion of the Professional Learning Communities at Work™ process. His advocacy and tireless dedication to school improvement led to the founding of the DuFour Award in 2016.
Fern Creek High School was recognized during the Summit on PLC at Work™, which took place in Phoenix, Ariz., February 22-24, 2017. During the ceremony, Solution Tree presented the school with a check for $25,000.
“Fern Creek was a finalist for the first annual DuFour Award last year,” said Solution Tree’s CEO, Jeffrey C. Jones. “Through hard work and persistence, they were able to take it to the next level and earn the top honor this year. I’m delighted to honor their commitment to continuous school improvement.”
Fern Creek’s application included an essay and short video detailing the school’s dedication to the professional learning community process, improving student learning, and advancing instructional best practices.
“Fern Creek High School’s turnaround story is grounded in our commitment and fidelity to professional learning communities,” said Principal Nathan Meyer. “The workshops and institutes led by Rick DuFour that we attended when we were first identified as a Priority School in 2010 galvanized us and strengthened our resolve to improve student learning. Rick DuFour publicly recognizing our school’s work during the past year has been an incredible honor for our entire staff. This award becomes a tangible representation of our teachers’ commitment to the three big ideas of a PLC, centered on student learning, professional collaboration, and being results driven.”
DuFour Award Committee chairman Thomas W. Many said, “Along with a litany of impressive statistics, the school has expanded access to more rigorous curriculum, disrupted inequity, and expanded opportunities for college and career readiness all while improving their ranking in the state from the 10th to the 87th percentile in academic achievement.”
Amy Hinton, a Carter Traditional Elementary School reading teacher, has been awarded the Excellence in Classroom and Educational Leadership (ExCEL) Award. Representatives from Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) and from the award sponsors — LG&E KU and WHAS11 — honored the teacher last week during a ceremony at the school.
“Mrs. Hinton is well-deserving of the Excellence in Classroom and Educational Leadership (ExCEL) Award,” Carter Principal Jamie Wyman said. “Her never-ending dedication to Carter’s students and families goes above and beyond at all times. Parents of the students she works with are deeply grateful for the positive impact she has on their child, as well as the guidance and support she offers them.”
Hinton has been instrumental in helping Carter reach its Third Grade Reading Pledge, assisting students in increasing their reading fluency and comprehension. In addition, she serves on multiple committees, including the Instructional Leadership Team and Site Based Decision Making (SBDM) Council. She is a Kentucky Teacher Internship (KTIP) mentor teacher, and participates in the first- and second-grade professional learning communities.
“Amy Hinton truly loves her job and every student she encounters,” said Melissa Silvano, a first-grade teacher at Carter, adding that Hinton’s ability to make learning fun and beneficial is only one of her many skills and talents. “Amy is determined, motivated and a true example of what an educator should be.”
As an ExCEL Award winner, Hinton will receive a $1,000 instructional grant from LG&E KU.
