Education

Area schools are being hit with hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties, in the wake of the dissolution of the Kentucky School Boards Insurance Trust, or KSBIT.

The penalty payments are intended to fix a $60 million deficit in KSBIT's worker’s compensation and property and liability pools. The penalty amount is 60 percent  based on premiums, and 40 percent based on that school district’s past claims.

The insurance program was attractive to districts due to its low premium costs in worker’s comp and liability coverages.

Kentucky has become the most recent state to see problems with the company that administers online  exams in public schools and officials say the problem is of concern as more states move to online testing.

Since the beginning of this week, 25 Kentucky school districts have experienced slow or dropped  connections to the online system, making it impossible to complete the ACT End of Course Exam.

Kentucky education officials have suspended online testing through at least today after glitches with the testing system used to administer end-of-course assessments. Kentucky students are among thousands in four states — including Indiana, Minnesota and Oklahoma — that have been kicked offline while taking tests in recent weeks. Kentucky Education Department spokeswoman Nancy Rodriguez says its vendor, ACT Inc., reported online issues in Kentucky and Alabama.

Murray State University President Randy Dunn will visit Youngstown State University tomorrow for a series of open forums.

Dunn is one of three finalists to become Youngstown’s next president.