KY legislator: Let’s give teachers, staff one-time cash payments. How much could they get?

A Republican Kentucky lawmaker filed a bill Friday that would give all teachers and administrators in the state a one-time $2,000 payment in each of the next two fiscal years.

House Bill 694, sponsored by State Rep. Chris Fugate, R-Chavies, also would provide all classified employees a single payment of $1,000 in each fiscal year.

Classified employees include school bus drivers, cafeteria workers and teachers’ aides.

School superintendents would not receive the payments, which would go to every other educator with state certification under the legislation in fiscal 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.

Fugate said the bill is especially needed for many rural school districts that might be unable to give teacher raises because of declining enrollment.

The bill, he said, has about 20 co-sponsors.

“I think everybody here is for raises for teachers,” Fugate said.

Each local school district would have to provide the money no later than Aug. 31 of each fiscal year.

Kentucky’s fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30.

The bill makes an appropriation of $153 million in fiscal year 2024-2025 and $153 million in fiscal year 2025-2026.

While the bill would apply to every school district in the commonwealth, Fugate said that it’s especially needed in his Eastern Kentucky House district.

In the wake of the historic 2022 floods – Fugate’s church served as a shelter during the disaster – and overall population trends in the region, state funding via the per-pupil SEEK formula has declined for some schools.

Breathitt County Schools, he said, is slated to lose $431,000 due to the loss of enrollment.

“For that school district to give a raise is almost impossible,” Fugate said. “And they’ve done all they can to consolidate and do different things to cut costs.”

Fugate framed the bill as a temporary measure to fulfill a need while legislators examine how the SEEK formula can more effectively fund rural school districts dealing with population loss. Rep. Timmy Truett, R-McKee, has a resolution in the House to establish a task force to look into this issue.

“This is the short-term solution,” Fugate said.

“I think long-term, we have to invest in the people who are teaching our kids. Some of them make less than $40,000 hours to teach, and I think that’s not enough to live on, especially if you have a family.”

While the bill falls short of the goals of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who campaigned on an 11% across-the-board raise for all school employees, it goes further than the current budget proposal of encouraging raises via a 4% and 2% increases to the SEEK formula.

That budget proposal only slightly increases the total dollar investment into the formula to a little over $3.2 billion each year.

Fayette County Public Schools spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith said district officials have no comment on the pending legislation.

Jennifer Ginn, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Education, said any increase in salaries for local school district staff in recognition of the services they provide to school districts, students and communities is always appreciated.

“However, we must continue to recognize that a one-time payment will not resolve the ongoing statewide challenges districts face in recruiting and retaining school district staff. We are hopeful that discussions will continue with a goal to achieve adequate salaries and pay that is competitive with surrounding states,” said Ginn.

“House Bill 694 is a welcome acknowledgment of the need to address the chronic pay disparities for certified and classified staff in public schools across the commonwealth,” Kentucky Education Association President Eddie Campbell said.

“Educators would certainly appreciate these one-time cash payments, but limiting these to the next biennium doesn’t permanently solve the pay shortfall teachers have struggled with since 2009 and from which hourly classified staff have always suffered,” Campbell said. “Without a more permanent solution, when the proposed payments expire, wages will drop back to current levels.”

Based on data collected by the National Education Association, he said, Kentucky ranks 40th in the nation for average classroom teacher salary, 44th for average teacher starting pay, and 48th in average earnings for classified staff.