Jan. 18, 2024
KSBA thanks House leadership, the Appropriations & Revenue Committee chairman and all those who contributed to the crafting of the budget proposal for increased funding in targeted areas. We are grateful that the increase to base SEEK funding affirms the approach that school boards be given the flexibility and autonomy to allocate resources based on local needs.
The legislature has made clear the need for substantial investment in district employee pay, a priority shared by Kentucky’s school boards. The proposed House budget begins to move that needle, but countering the impact of historic underfunding of education at the state level and addressing unprecedented personnel shortages will ultimately require significantly more investment.
A recent KSBA survey of districts, often cited by legislators, shows that even with modest increased funding in the last budget cycle, nearly 90% of school boards provided raises to employees. School boards should be proud of that fact despite years of state support not keeping pace with inflation and local communities shouldering more and more of the burden. Local school boards and administrators are willing and able to make difficult decisions on behalf of the students they serve, but merely incremental increases to SEEK will make real progress impossible.
KSBA has concerns with language in the House budget that challenges school boards to use very limited resources “to make adequate progress in the recruitment and retention of classroom teachers and classified employees” or face disproportionate consequences.
Bill language requiring “local school districts that receive state funding” to prominently publish on their websites student assessment information is troubling. We also have concerns about proposed requirements for KDE to rank schools and districts by performance on state assessments. While these metrics are an important factor, the results don’t tell the entire story of how effective a school district is in providing education to its students. We believe that, absent broader context, the singling out of a school’s proficiency rates in this manner may sow misinformation and devalue other important factors.
As the budget process moves forward in the coming weeks, we encourage legislators to work closely with KSBA and its members to achieve a budget that moves Kentucky schools forward.