Make teacher and school staff salaries competitive
It might surprise you to know that Kentucky school districts often are the largest employers in their communities, manage the largest food service and transportation operations, have the largest physical plants and include a wide array of staff members including teachers, teacher’s aides, food service workers, mechanics, bus drivers, nurses, safety resource officers, principals, school secretaries, guidance counselors and many others.
Put simply, Kentucky schools must do business much like entire cities or any number of large organizations. They must have enough money to offer competitive wages or their employees will go elsewhere, keep the facilities maintained or they will fall into disrepair and serve healthy food for children or they may not eat. While Kentucky public schools aren’t set up to make a profit, they must have positive financial margins to meet their mission of providing educational opportunities that set up our children for success inside and outside the classroom.
With record state revenues and budget reserves at nearly $4 billion, now is the time to take bold action and invest in the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) Bases and Allotments. We urge the Kentucky General Assembly to implement a funding plan to get P-12 education back on track to the 2008 buying power over the next four years:
- We need a SEEK base target of $5,400, to close the decades-long funding gap.
- As a next step, we need a plan to add $300 each year to the SEEK base – $4,500 in FY25 and $4,800 in FY26.
- This funding investment will provide game-changing competitive salaries for teachers and staff serving our schools and districts. To illustrate this need further, according to the National Education Association, Kentucky teacher salaries are about $11,000 less than the national average.
Let’s put dollars toward our most precious asset – our children. It’s up to us to ensure that they succeed in the classroom, at home and in the workplace. They deserve the type of education we remember and would want for our own children.
Jim Flynn
Executive Director
Kentucky Association of School Superintendents
