@TomLoftus_CJ While making an appeal for unity, Beshear pulls no punches on the challenges the state faces, including:
- 22% of our children live in poverty ...
- some of the highest child abuse and neglect rates in the nation ...
- 45th in the country for high school diploma attainment
@TomLoftus_CJ On the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality, Beshear said Kentuckians rely on each other to be pulled up.
Credits his teachers at Dawson Springs Independent Schools for pulling him up.
Beshear calls out the "hope" provided by the states Family Resource & Youth Service Centers -- at which he slightly stumbled because, yes, this is difficult to say.
Beshear gets applause for his decision to waive GED testing fees
"Public education has the power to transform and it will be prioritized during this administration."
*applause*
"A pension is a promise and it must be treated as such."
*applause*
Beshear now talking money, honey.
Says state must invest in "infrastructure, workforce training and most importantly, education."
On infrastructure -- yet education related -- Beshear calls for high-speed internet in every corner of the state.
All KY public schools have internet, but in many rural areas, kids don't have it when they go home.
Ok, I thought this was going to be a section devoted to investment, but Beshear has pivoted to healthcare issues including:
- high insulin prices (stop)
- surprise medical bills (stop)
- opioid crisis (tax drug companies and use $ to address education)
OK EDUCATION HERE WE GO
"The key to breaking cycles of poverty ... to climbing out of the 40s in so many rankings that we don't want to be in, the key to that right now is found in our public schools."
Time for "all of us" to support public ed.
"This is a new start with a new governor ... We can wipe the slate clean.
We can move forward in the support of public education together. "
"Investing in our public schools means investing in our teachers. And those teachers deserve a raise. They are on the forefront of every problem that we talk about in these chambers."
"We face a teacher shortage that threatens the future of our children, ... We figured out to give tax incentives to corporations so i know we can figure out how to give a living wage to (teachers)."
On his proposal for $2,000 raises: "We can and we must afford it."
Beshear also makes strong call for restoring higher ed funding -- key to addressing poverty, he says.
🚨"STAY TUNED" BECAUSE *EDUCATION FIRST* BUDGET IS COMING 🚨
Beshear calls for sports betting bill -- that might be the only talk we get tonight about potential new revenue options ...
"In just two weeks ... we'll be back here again with the budget address... we have transformed a budget of pain into one of progress."
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INBOX: Some news related to Louisville's disconnected/opportunity youth efforts.
@louisvillemayor has made two appointments to expand the city's Office of Youth Development -- which in recent years, as the @courierjournal has reported, was not treated as a priority.
From June:
Dr. Aishia Brown has been appointed to be the new Director for OYD, and Dr. Billie Castle has been appointed as a Special Assistant for Resilience and Community Services (RCS) with a special focus in OYD, according to a release from Fischer's office.
Brown will retain a joint position at UofL's School of Public Health and Information Sciences.
“I’m excited to engage in what will be a shift from viewing youth as problems that need to be fixed to agents of change in our community,” she said.
Can't believe how much has changed since this story published on July 13th (and that's saying a lot in 2020!). courier-journal.com/story/news/edu…
But a quick reminder as @JCPSKY starts back virtually tomorrow: These educators miss their kids.
They wanted to be back. They wanted to make socially distant school work — even though it could put their own health at risk.
And that's the type of people teachers & other public school staff are.
They are selfless, often to a fault.
But when circumstances change, they make it work.
They create Bitmoji classrooms. They green-screen themselves into virtual field trips. They hand-deliver school supplies. They learn how to use Google classroom to support kids traumatized by COVID-19 and murder.
More than 6,500 staff members are tuned in for @JCPSKY's live virtual kickoff for the 2020-21 school year.
Among the morale boosts this morning, a video of students surprising teachers with heartfelt "Thank you" messages.
Taking the podium, @JCPSSuper starts by poking fun at himself -- says he has a swollen lip because weekend yard-work resulted in a pretty bad case of poison ivy.
"So, if I drool on myself or anything you will know why I did."