Kentucky School Advocate
May 2018
2018 General Assembly:
Advocating for Education
All talk and all actionA sea of red shirts. Homemade signs. And chanting – lots of chanting. This year’s legislative session brought forth educators in droves to advocate for education funding and for their pension system. And the educators who rallied both at home and in Frankfort vowed to continue their vigilance and activism.
Board members join inSome school board members weren’t letting their district staff carry their signs alone, joining in the Frankfort rallies and otherwise showing their support.
Catching up on pensions ...
and other education billsGet a rundown of the main provisions in the quickly unveiled and quickly passed pension reform bill and check out our list of education-related bills that did and did not pass in the 2018 legislative session.
Confounded configurationsIt’s one of the trickiest areas for a board in the midst of facility planning: whether to tinker with grade center configurations. Because every district is unique, hard-and-fast rules are scarce, but three districts we profiled tackled their grade centers from different angles.
The big fourAn experienced facilitator who helps districts with their planning shares his take on the four variables that usually determine a district’s grade configuration.
Tips for successEducation leaders who have been through the process of realigning grades say that it’s important to be transparent, to stick to guiding principles and to be clear about why changes are being considered.
Efficiency kudosThe energy-saving efforts of Kentucky schools received high praise at this year’s School Energy Summit, hosted by KSBA. The kudos came from both the state and national levels, with an EPA official calling Kentucky “a true national leader” in this area.
Vital visitsEvery student in the Newport Independent district sees his or her teacher once a year: at the child’s home. It’s one of the district’s secrets to building relationships between educators, parents and students. The personalized effort has won the district KSBA’s Public Education Achieves in Kentucky (PEAK) Award.