A $128.4 billion two-year state budget that includes a 9% increase in base funding for K-12 education and at least $159 million in new funds for renovations at Northern Kentucky University – but does not designate raises for public school teachers – is on its way to the governor’s desk for his signature.
HB 6 was given final passage on a 72-26 House vote Thursday. It passed the Senate earlier in the day.
Rather than mandate raises for teachers and other school employees, House Bill 6 includes provisions encouraging school districts to utilize the additional base funding for schools (also called SEEK) for teacher and classified staff raises.
SEEK funding in the proposed budget would also cover the cost of full day kindergarten. The bill does not include any funding for universal pre-kindergarten – a top priority of Gov. Andy Beshear, who must now decide whether to veto parts of HB 6 or let the bill stand.
Senate and House Republicans are expected to have enough votes to override or cancel out most any veto issued by the governor in the coming days. The current budget session’s scheduled veto recess begins Friday; Lawmakers then plan to return to Frankfort the second week of April to finish out the session.
Lawmakers did include in the bill pay raises of 3% each of the next two fiscal years for state employees, county prosecutors, commonwealth’s attorneys and property valuation administrators. Also included is $22.5 million for salary adjustments for Kentucky state police and vehicle enforcement officers.
HB 6 includes funding for child care assistance and workforce investment, with over $250 million budgeted for need-based and work-ready scholarships. Also included is $25.4 million over the next two years in increased funding for the postsecondary education performance fund, a competitive funding source for state schools.
The budget bill also includes $29.4 million in new funding split nearly 50-50 between a proposed student teacher stipend program and a teacher recruitment student loan forgiveness pilot program. Fort Mitchell Republican Rep. Kim Banta sponsored legislation this session to create both programs.
As for child care aid, HB 6 includes $2 million in each of the next two years for matching contributions to the state employee child care assistance partnership and boosts funding for state child care assistance program (CCAP) by $49 million to maintain reimbursements to providers, will additional funding included to establish an “Innovations in Early Childhood Education Delivery Grant Program.”
Both workforce development and child care assistance are priorities of the NKY Chamber of Commerce this legislative session.
“We are very pleased with the funding encompassed in House Bill 6 for Northern Kentucky,” NKY Chamber of Commerce VP of Public Affairs Tami Wilson told LINK nky in a statement Thursday. “We see historic levels of funding for early childhood education and post-secondary performance funding. Workforce talent attraction and retention remain the top priority for the NKY Chamber of Commerce, and we are grateful for the funding in the legislation supporting our largest talent pipeline, our post-secondary institutions.
“This bill has a lot for NKY, including needed funding for the NKY medical examiner’s office, innovative measures toward education talent attraction and retention, and greater tourism opportunities for our region. The NKY Chamber thanks Chairman McDaniel and the other NKY legislators who have worked so hard for our region during the 2024 budget session. Their efforts and this legislation have solid investments for NKY, the economic engine of our Commonwealth,” Wilson said.
Rep. Stephanie Dietz (R-Edgewood) also commented on the budget in a statement to LINK Thursday, “HB 6 represents more than $128 billion in investments that include record funding in education, health services, and public safety. The version we’ve passed is very intentional. It makes the most of every tax dollar spent. I think our region will benefit from it and appreciate that Northern Kentucky has strong leadership willing to fight for good policy.”
House Minority Whip Rep. Rachel Roberts (D-Newport) said that while HB 6 is “a good budget, because of record funding” it is lacking in areas. “Most notably, dedicated school employee raises and full funding for pupil transportation,” Roberts said in a statement to LINK.
The bill’s funding would increase public school pupil transportation by 90% in fiscal year 2025 and 100% in the second year of the biennium, according to a statement from the House Republican caucus.
Roberts said HB 6 would also underfund SEEK, and doesn’t adequately fund pre-kindergarten.
“(HB 6) lacks the vision for Kentucky’s future that District 67 has been asking for,” she told LINK.
NKY-specific funding in HB 6 includes the following:
Northern Kentucky University
- $23.076 million in asset preservation bonds funds in each of the next two fiscal years
- $52 million to renovate Steely Library (including $49 million in agency bonds)
- $20 million for online programs
- $36 million (including $16 million in agency bonds) for expand/renovate the NKY soccer complex for partnership with FC Cincinnati
- $21 million (including $17.3 million in bond funds) to renovate/expand the NKU civic center building to house a new NKY state medical examiner’s office and current state police crime lab, now located in Cold Spring
- $4.5 million to renovate Nunn Hall – Phase 1
- $4.5 million for event center technology
- $3 million in agency bonds for parking garage repair
- Bond authorization for residence hall renovations and to expand Herrmann Science Center
Holly Hill Child and Family Solutions – $6.5 million for renovations of Holly Hill’s Highland Heights and California campuses
Ludlow High School – $5 million in special offer of assistance through School Facilities Construction Commission
Big Bone Lick State Park Nature Center – $3.125 million
Other NKY funding is included in House Bill 1, sent to Beshear Thursday, along with the state’s two-year road plan, which also includes funding for the NKY region.
HB 1 includes over $2.7 billion in one-time funding from Kentucky’s $3.7 billion state budget reserve trust fund for projects that a Senate Republican press statement said are intended to “boost infrastructure and stimulate economic growth.”
The House approved HB 1 on an 86-10 vote Thursday after the Senate passed it earlier in the day.
HB 1 includes over $193 million for NKY projects, including:
- $125 million in one-time funds to plan, design and build a Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence at the former IRS site. Funding to be distributed to the Kenton County Fiscal Court and deployed through the NKY Port Authority. Both the NKU Chase College of Law and University of Kentucky College of Medicine would use the site, with medical operations complementing health sciences at the OneNKY Center.
- $20 million in one-time funds for economic development at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)
- $10 million distributed to City of Covington for infrastructure at Covington Central Riverfront
- $7.5 million distributed to Campbell County Fiscal Court for General James Taylor Park
- $5 million for Tower Park Community Complex project in Fort Thomas
- $5 million distributed to Kenton County Fiscal Court for brownfield site (industrial) readiness
- $5 million to SD1 for consent decree remediation
- $6 million distributed to Kenton County Fiscal Court for SparkHaus
- $6 million in community based services funds for Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky
- $2.5 million to Covington Life Science Center for equipment and facilities
- $1 million to the City of Covington for Covington Partners for violence prevention
- $500,000 to study sewer expansion on Locust Pike, City of Taylor Mill