Blog

Our teachers are trained to be experts in instruction. More than ever, now public school educators and support staff – from administrators to classroom teachers, from bus drivers to nutrition workers – are tasked with additional roles, like counselor, social worker, nurse and investigator, to ensure students’ needs are met, and they’re engaged and ready to learn.

A key issue facing Kentucky public schools is so well-known by now it’s almost cliché: our schools are suffering from long-term, persistent underfunding. It’s a problem made even worse by the pandemic, which has disrupted learning for hundreds of thousands of students across our state, and required more resources from our schools and staff than ever before.

This year, Kentucky public schools started to look a lot like they did before the pandemic hit. Most districts returned to in-person classes, masks were optional, and events like sports, graduations and plays took place as they had before COVID-19. But for many of our students, the challenges they continue to face are just as dangerous, but far less obvious.

Ask any parent or guardian who had to guide their child through online classes and virtual schoolwork, and they’ll tell you: teaching is a heroic profession.

KASS calls on the Kentucky General Assembly to bring SEEK dollars to the inflationary equivalent of 2008 funding

As educators, administrators, employers and parents ourselves, we commend – and continue to appreciate – the move to direct long-overdue funds to our public schools.

KASS Executive Director Jim Flynn testifies before the Kentucky General Assembly’s Interim Joint Committee on Education.