Kentucky

"The University of Louisville's college of education has received a $5 million gift - its largest ever - to improve teaching and learning at five Louisville public schools that serve disadvantaged students. The Mary K. Oxley Foundation gift, announced Friday, will be paired with $2.5 million from the U of L Foundation to continue and expand education efforts of U of L's ���Signature Partnership Initiative,� which started in 2007 to aid western Louisville, including its students. The money will go to five Jefferson County Public Schools: The Academy @ Shawnee, Westport Middle and Atkinson, Cochran and Portland elementary schools, all of which have high student poverty rates, said Ann Larson, dean of the College of Education and Human Development."

"State officials said this week that restoration of cuts to a program that helps pay child care for poor parents won't begin until Aug. 15, more than a month after it was originally planned."

"This summer, instead of hanging out poolside or playing outside all day, about 100 Jefferson County Public Schools students will be working on reading comprehension as part of the district's Summer Reading Institute. The program, which is in its first year, is JCPS' way of reaching its homeless students, who number more than many people realize, said John David Marshall, JCPS assistant superintendent of diversity, equity and poverty."

"More than a quarter of Kentucky seniors - 27 percent, federal figures show - have had all their natural teeth extracted, ahead of only West Virginia and Tennessee. And 53 percent of Kentucky adults have had at least one permanent tooth pulled. A shrinking number of dentists across the state take Medicaid, and more than half of Kentucky adults have no dental insurance. Waits at some safety-net clinics can stretch to half a year, and a mobile dental service run by Louisville's health department recently stopped when its dentist left."

"Jenna Keller Berdel, a strategy officer with the Lumina Foundation, an Indianapolis-based private foundation that focuses on getting more low-income students to enroll and complete college, said she hopes groups working to boost education focus on low-income students."

"A recent estimate by state Education Commissioner Terry Holliday forced a harsh retabulation of school budgets last week. District administrators face up to 9.2 percent in federal, across-the-board budget cuts prompted by the March 1 sequestration. Funding to special education and low-income learners will take the hardest hits, Holliday said. The cuts will slice up to $3 billion nationally in education alone."