FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky lawmakers returned to work Tuesday for a 60-day session that’ll be dominated by negotiations over the next state budget, with Republican supermajorities in both chambers once again shaping Bluegrass State policies even as voters have extended an era of divided government by reelecting Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
Both the House and Senate gaveled in at midday to begin the grind of legislating through mid-April. Efforts to craft the next two-year budget — the state's overarching policy document — likely won't wrap up until late in the session.
Beshear offered his budget blueprint in a televised speech last month, calling for massive funding increases for public education topped by a proposed 11% pay raise for teachers and all other public school employees.
In a sit-down interview with WHAS11 in December, Gov. Beshear said he believes wage gaps are a big reason educators are leaving to work in neighboring states like Tennessee -- which in 2023 passed its largest teacher salary increase in state history.
On Tuesday, Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, who's also noted the outflow of educators to surrounding states, said state lawmakers "need to talk about what is necessary to keep and attract teachers here."
When asked how the legislature plans to do that, Stivers said, "Well, one of these things will be pay and look at compensation. The other is workplace environment."
WHAS 11 asked if Beshear's 11 percent proposal is out of the realm of possibilities, to which Stivers responded, "Well, it depends on how we have to do this in the budget."
Stivers and other Republican leaders have been steadfast in sticking to the state's current funding model for public schools -- called the SEEK formula -- and letting local school districts decide how to divvy up those dollars.
But Beshear wants to earmark funds specifically to be used for raises in every county.
When asked if Stivers would consider "anything outside the SEEK formula," he answered, "That's hard. We want to see dollars get back into the school."
The governor also is resuming his push for state-funded preschool for every 4-year-old in Kentucky. Republican lawmakers have charted their own course on education policies.
Lawmakers will review hundreds of other bills in the coming months. Familiar issues that could grab headlines include abortion and school choice. New issues for Kentucky could include efforts to rein in diversity, equity and inclusion offices in higher education.
A push to relax Kentucky's near-total abortion ban could resurface. Last year, a bill to add exceptions to the ban for pregnancies caused by rape or incest made no headway in the legislature.
Beshear, an abortion-rights supporter, made his support for those exceptions a prominent part of his successful reelection campaign. Kentucky’s current abortion law bans the procedure except when carried out to save a pregnant woman’s life or to prevent a disabling injury.
Another potential high-profile issue could be efforts to put a school-choice constitutional amendment on the fall ballot in Kentucky. The goal would be to remove constitutional hurdles for school choice initiatives. It comes after school choice advocates suffered setbacks in courts.
A state judge last month struck down a law aimed at setting up a funding method for charter schools. In 2022, Kentucky’s Supreme Court struck down another law meant to award tax credits for donations supporting private school tuition.
One dynamic that will be watched closely is the relationship between the governor and GOP lawmakers. Beshear’s first term featured annual policy clashes with Republican lawmakers, who overrode numerous gubernatorial vetoes.
Then comes the question of the potential to split up the Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) district in Louisville -- a possibility that's actively being studied in Frankfort.
Stivers confirmed lawmakers are seriously looking into this option.
"There needs to be some serious discussion as to what happens to JCPS," Stivers told WHAS11.
But it's an effort Democrats, like State Sen. Gerald Neal of Louisville, are already chalking up as misguided.
"If you really look at it, it's irrational. There is an objective that someone wants to get by doing that," Neal said prior to the start of session Tuesday. "When you split something up in the community, you run the risk of splitting your community. You run the risk of disproportionately bringing value to one part of the community as [opposed] to the other."
Beshear has noted that he also signed more than 600 bipartisan bills into law, including signature measures to legalize sports betting and medical marijuana and to expand early voting.
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