| ||||||||||
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... |
KY awarded nearly $36M for kindergarten readiness From Crystal Staley/Scottie Ellis Frankfort, KY - Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Thursday that the federal government has selected Kentucky for a nearly $36 million grant to support families and the state's economy by ensuring more children are ready for kindergarten. The Office of Early Childhood Development Preschool Development Birth through Five (PDG B-5) grant will provide Kentucky with $11.9 million each year over a three-year period. The Governor said these funds will help the commonwealth develop and expand early learning programs; build an early childhood education workforce talent pipeline and expand access to high quality for children most in need. "My administration will always put education first, and that starts with our youngest students, so they have the strong start in school and life that they deserve," Gov. Beshear said. "This is an investment in our kids and also in our future workforce and economy. It's personal to me as a dad, because I want all of our kids to have the best opportunities possible right here." When a young child enters kindergarten ready for school, there is an 82% chance that child will master basic skills by age 11 compared with a 45% chance for children who are not school ready. "This funding strengthens our economy with high-quality early childhood education for our future workforce while meeting today's concerns of working parents with young children," said Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet Secretary Jamie Link. The $36 million federal award will build upon a $10.6 million PDG B-5 grant to Kentucky in 2019. Since the original award in 2019, Kentucky has advanced the goals outlined in the grant's strategic plan. In addition to stewarding federal funding, the Beshear-Coleman administration has also increased state funding for early childhood education. This year, Team Kentucky's budget request of $125.9 million won legislative approval and fully funds full-day kindergarten for the children of the commonwealth. During the next two years, Gov. Beshear has allotted $1.4 million for the Governor's Office of Early Childhood. The state will invest $6 million in the state's Regional Collaborative Network and $1.4 million annually. As part of his commitment to early childhood education, the Governor has proposed an Education First Plan to be considered during the upcoming 2023 legislative session. The Governor's plan aims to address student learning loss brought on by the pandemic and years of denied pay raises that have contributed to the state's nearly 11,000 public school teacher vacancies, by providing funding for a 5% pay raise for school staff, universal pre-K, textbooks, technology and training, teacher student loan forgiveness and social and mental health services. The Governor is also asking lawmakers to consider restoring new teacher pensions, which he said is the single most effective action we can take to keep new teachers in the classroom. "Kentucky has long embraced promoting greater collaboration, emphasizing high quality and continuous improvement to ensure more children enter kindergarten prepared," said Governor's Office of Early Childhood Executive Director Amy Neal. "Our innovative and ambitious plan with this new federal funding will continue transforming the commonwealth into the best place to start and raise a family." This story was posted on 2022-12-30 09:26:44
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
Genealogical Society does not meet in January Boil Water Advisory issued in Northern Adair Co. Chef shares how he cooks country ham for breakfast A thank you to Scout leader Gabe Coleman 7-County Area Courts for Thu 29 Dec 2022 7-County Area Courts for Wed 28 Dec 2022 Governor notes historic private-sector investment, job creation 7-County Area Courts for Tue 27 Dec 2022 Not what: a sonnet of responsibility Scams take advantage of generous people View even more articles in topic News |
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
|