FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled spending bills aimed at boosting education funding and tapping into budget reserves to pump more money into public pensions and infrastructure projects.
The two-year budget plan introduced in the House doesn't include a guaranteed pay raise for teachers and other public school employees. Nor does it contain funds to provide access to preschool for every 4-year-old in Kentucky. Those were cornerstones of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's budget plan.
Instead, the House GOP budget proposal calls for a big infusion of additional money for the state’s main funding formula for K-12 schools — known as SEEK — and into student transportation. The House plan will include language suggesting "very strongly to administrators that their school personnel deserve and need pay raises,” Republican House Speaker David Osborne told reporters.
“So we fully expect and anticipate that school administrators would reward their teachers accordingly,” Osborne said.
Under the House plan, it would be up to each local district to decide the size of any pay raises.
Kentucky House Republicans are proposing a 4 percent boost of per-student funding in the next fiscal year, and then another 2 percent in the fiscal year after that.
In their budget bill, lawmakers encourage "local school districts to provide certified and classified staff a salary or compensation increase." They direct local school boards to "consider the actions of other states."
Bullitt County Public Schools' Superintendent Dr. Jesse Bacon told WHAS11 he appreciates what the state is putting on the table, but he says local school districts need more to fight the shortage of teachers.
"It would allow us to only give about a three percent raise across the board, and that's putting every additional dollar that we have into salaries and compensation benefits — which doesn't keep up with the cost of inflation right now," Bacon said. "We've cut about all we can cut. And that's the biggest issue."
GOP leaders in Frankfort have said Kentucky needs to be more competitive in hiring and retaining, compared to neighboring states like Tennessee and Indiana.
Debbie Wesslund served on JCPS' Board of Education for two terms and has seen the need in classrooms grow. She told WHAS11, "Education is economic development, and we should be fully funding that. It's development of our workforce. There's nothing more important."
"I've read that they're leaving for other jobs that pay better," Wesslund said, referencing teachers. "The amount of money that they're providing for that is not nearly enough. SEEK funding has not kept pace with inflation."
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Back in November, Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers acknowledged that the funding formula may soon need updating.
"I think in the next few years, the whole funding system for K-12 would have to be looked at in the lens of, is the SEEK formula outdated?" he told WHAS11 on Nov. 15.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers also outlined a consequence. In the budget bill, they write that if local school boards don't make adequate progress in recruitment and retention, it may lead to "the closure of individual schools, the takeover of an individual board of education, or the potential consolidation of boards of education."
"I think it's a talking point for maybe the media, but I think it's an idle one. I mean, it's like telling a teacher that if the kids don't learn, you're not going to get paid. I don't know that there are many teachers that don't want their kids to learn," former Oldham County Schools Superintendent Greg Schultz said. "We have to equip people to be able to do those things, not try to punish them for not doing what they want to do."
House Republicans are also proposing setting aside $750,000 in the budget for another state audit of JCPS. It comes as Stivers has said GOP leaders are looking at all options to fix issues within JCPS, including the potential for state takeover and dividing the district.
In a statement sent to WHAS11 Wednesday, a JCPS spokesperson said:
"We hope that the final budget approved by the legislature will reflect a commitment to improving education in Louisville and across the Commonwealth. Increases in funding for SEEK, transportation and pay for teachers and school district employees should be part of any budget that is ultimately passed by lawmakers and signed by the Governor."
To help the state's childcare sector, the House plan includes additional funding to maintain a higher reimbursement for providers.
Beshear proposed an 11% pay raise for teachers and all other public school employees. His budget plan included $172 million each year of the budget to provide preschool for every Kentucky 4-year-old.
House Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chairman Jason Petrie introduced both budget bills on the 10th day of this year's 60-day session. Work on Kentucky's next two-year budget — the state's signature policy document — will dominate the session. The GOP has supermajorities in the House and Senate.
The executive branch budget bill — House Bill 6 — also includes strategic investments in public safety, infrastructure and health services, top Republicans said.
“HB6 continues our commitment to investing in our commonwealth's future while prioritizing responsible spending that aims to efficiently allocate resources while maintaining essential public services,” Petrie said. “This approach has served us well, allowing us to provide Kentuckians with necessary services while helping amass a historic amount in our budget reserve trust and addressing state debt and liabilities.”
The other bill unveiled Tuesday, House Bill 1, would tap into those massive budget reserves to make one-time investments in infrastructure, public safety and economic development. It also would help pay down the state's public pension liabilities.
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