Gov. Andy Beshear outlined his plan for Kentucky’s educational needs Thursday in response to Kentucky’s School Report Card Data released last week.
In Northern Kentucky, the report card showed ongoing issues with the performance of schools in the region. Kentucky law requires the Kentucky Department of Education to release this data.
In his presser, Beshear outlined five ways he wants to address learning loss brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor said he wants to give educators and school staff a 5% raise, start a teacher loan forgiveness program, provide social and mental health services, restore teacher pensions, and provide universal pre-K.
During the pandemic, all schools in the United States closed in response, which led teachers and staff to adjust to remote learning to prevent more illnesses. According to Beshear, these disruptions are the root of poor school performance.
But he said there’s another problem that started before the pandemic — teacher and staff shortages in Kentucky. Through these initiatives, which will be required to go through the Republican legislature in 2023, Beshear hopes to address the challenge of shortages.
“Our teacher shortages are the result of not just the pandemic, but years of cutbacks that have left schools underfunded,” he said.
The pandemic exacerbated these issues, causing unique challenges for teachers and staff.
“In order to ensure we’re doing everything possible to help every child reach their full potential and rebound, catch up, we must first address our teacher and staff shortages in our schools,” Beshear said.
In a statement, however, the Republican Party of Kentucky said that less than half of Kentucky students could read at grade level after schools moved to remote learning during the pandemic.
“Our teachers and superintendents worked hard to navigate the difficulties of remote learning during COVID-19,” said said party spokesperson Sean Southard. “In response, a Republican General Assembly provided historic funding to our school districts, empowering local leaders to make decisions on how best to recover from the pandemic.”
Republican legislative leaders have said that while they didn’t provide teacher raises, it was up to the district to give these increases after receiving increased Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (also known as SEEK) funding.
However, school leaders in Northern Kentucky have said that because they’ve been underfunded for so long, the modest increase in SEEK funding — the state’s formula for education funding — doesn’t address the long-standing needs.
“We, unfortunately, have been underfunded for a period of time with what’s in place at the state level,” said Boone County Superintendent Matthew Turner in March. “For example, our transportation costs have never been fully funded to the extent they should be. Our SEEK funding has not been adjusted for inflation over a period of time. There are some other things that have been cut over the years.”
Southard said it’s the governor’s pandemic actions responsible for the education mess.
“Despite his efforts to run away from his pandemic actions, students and parents will not forget the biggest contributor to learning loss in the Commonwealth of Kentucky: Gov. Andy Beshear,” Southard said. “Our children are worse off because of his actions, and Kentuckians will never forget it.”