Devin Katayama

Education and community leaders say the public school system needs local solutions to improve student achievement—but those solutions may vary depending on who you ask.

A crowd packed into St. Stephen Family Life Center Thursday to listen to Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday, Jefferson County Public Schools superintendent Donna Hargens and other guest speakers who shared their thoughts on the challenges facing the district’s lowest performing students.

Jefferson County Public Schools' 2012 graduation rates have improved slightly over last year.

Officials are celebrating some key indicators: The most recent 2011-2012 data says 69.4 percent of JCPS students graduated last year. Data for the 2010-2011 school year shows the rate was 67.8--a decrease from the previous year.

In the 2011-2012 school year, the state's graduation rates was 77.8 percent.  The 2010-2011 year it was 78.8, which was an improvement over the previous year.

Pierre Travis, 23, has lived in Louisville's West End his whole life.

Like other youth we interviewed for our series featuring students who at some point dropped out of the public school system, Travis attended several Jefferson County public schools. 

Travis says after being suspended sophomore year he was sent to Buechel Metropolitan High School, one of the district's several alternative schools. Here, he cycled in and out of the system over the next three years and ultimately left Buechel after being arrested for threatening a teacher, he says.

Kentucky follows the national trend of allocating less funding for higher education since the recession, according to the latest education report from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

The report released Tuesday says Kentucky has cut higher education since 2008 by 26 percent—or $2,663 per student—when adjusted for inflation. That’s only slightly better than the national average of 28 percent, the report says.

Keith Bush owns Boss Hogs BBQ in Louisville's Park DuValle neighborhood. The restaurant was recently vandalized by a neighborhood kid.

“It was about $1,300 to $1,500  worth of damage," he says.

After hearing about the case, members of Restorative Justice Louisville reached out to Bush and told him about a new program that the city has piloted since 2011.

Restorative justice is a way for victims and offenders to decide creative, less punitive responses to certain crimes.

“You see a sea of people and opportunities,” says the Louisville Urban League’s director for workforce development Juanita Sands describing the annual event at the Kentucky International Convention Center.

Over 50 businesses and a dozen higher education institutions are expected to participate in the job expo where participants will have a chance to meet representatives from some of Louisville’s most well known companies like UPS and Norton Healthcare and also from some smaller companies.

The Kentucky Department of Education has released minimal data on some of the state’s alternative schools for the first time publicly, but officials say it’s still difficult to determine whether a program is successful.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and transportation officials have announced a new program called "Bridges to Opportunities” meant to help women and minority construction workers participate in the Ohio River Bridges Project.

The estimated $1.9 million program will help place some skilled workers in jobs, but it will also place some entering the sector into apprenticeships and other into a program or school that can lead to future construction work.

The Louisville Metro Ethics Commission recommended on Thursday that Metro Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin be removed from the Metro Council for alleged ethics violations.

Shanklin, a Democrat from District 2, faced violating five provisions of the city's ethics code, including allegations that she misused taxpayer money in relation to an upholstery training program her office supported.

Kentucky’s 17-member panel currently reviewing certain child abuse cases will remain a permanent part of state accountability and child advocates say the recently-passed law creating the panel adds more transparency and accountability.