FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Governor Andy Beshear wanted lawmakers to budget a mandatory 11% pay raise for teachers and all other public school employees. That will not happen, but lawmakers say that doesn't mean raises are off the table.
“This is a solid budget,” Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said. “It is the best budget that has been proposed or passed by the General Assembly.”
Support for the state’s main funding formula for public K-12 schools — known as SEEK — would increase by more than 9% during the next two-year budget cycle, Stivers said.
Instead of mandating raises, the budget bill lawmakers came up with would leave decisions on teacher pay raises up to local school boards. Republican leaders said they hoped the influx of additional state funding would enable school districts to award raises to teachers.
"This is the constitutional way to fund the raises and that's what is important. There's a constitutional mandate - a Supreme Court ruling - that got us to this point. So, people may have their opinions, but ultimately, this is how the constitution says we're to handle these things," said Senate Budget Chairman Christian McDaniel.
Republican leaders emphasized that some school superintendents they spoke with indicated they would approve raises up to 5%.
Beshear said while that's good, Kentucky could do better.
"To every superintendent - if you could do five percent, God bless you," said Beshear. "Stretch as much as you can."
"2 to 5% will not resolve our teacher shortage - is not enough to ultimately draw in more students to the field," Beshear said. "We just need to do more and need to do better."
Beshear has said that an 11% raise would lift Kentucky to the middle of the pack nationally in average teacher starting pay and average teacher pay. The state now ranks near the bottom in both categories.
The spending plan crafted by lawmakers also would boost state funding for school districts’ transportation costs. The state would fund 90% of those costs in the first year of the next budget cycle and would fully fund those expenses in the second year.
The budget bill also would steer more state funding to less-wealthy school districts to balance out funding disparities with wealthier districts.
The emphasis on education funding signals that teachers are appreciated and that Kentucky is a good place to work as an educator, said Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Givens.
“Any rhetoric that makes you feel like you’re not appreciated, please disregard that,” Givens said. “We value what you do, day in and day out, and this budget reflects that.”
Another Beshear priority that made no headway was his proposal to provide preschool for every 4-year-old in Kentucky. Republican lawmakers included no money in the budget for his proposal. The governor’s budget plan included $172 million each year of the two-year budget for his universal pre-K plan. The program would extend preschool education to an estimated 34,000 additional 4-year-olds, he said.
