LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky school districts are preparing to vote on staff pay raises, as they're set to get an increase in state funding.
But will it be enough to make a significant difference in hiring and retaining teachers?
Kentucky lawmakers recently passed a budget for the next two fiscal years. It includes a 9% total boost to the state's public education funding model -- called SEEK -- however, much of the weight will still fall on a local level.
A major issue on the minds of school districts right now is starting teacher pay, so WHAS11 asked a couple Kentucky school superintendents what the new state budget allows them to do.
"I do have to say our legislators really listened to us. Is it at the level that we were hoping for? No," Hardin County Schools Superintendent Terrie Morgan said.
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With filling staffing gaps, the state's public schools aren't just competing with the private sector, they're battling with surrounding counties and in some cases neighboring states.
Morgan said they've let state lawmakers know about the struggle before and during the legislative session.
It's that time of year when school boards prepare to vote on pay raises for bus drivers, custodians and, of course, teachers. HCS plans to have that meeting in May.
"We want that starting range to be at $45,000 because we're competing with Tennessee who's at $50,000 and Indiana that's at $60,000," Morgan said. "If we're going to be competitive, we're going to have to do better than the $41,000 that is being offered for a first-year teacher."
To get there, Hardin County Schools would need to bump salaries more than 9%. Using incoming state funding alone, they'd reach 4% at most.
"It's a puzzle," Morgan said.
At Bullitt County Public Schools, Superintendent Jesse Bacon told WHAS 11 that "just utilizing SEEK funds, we would be looking at 3% this coming year."
He continued, "[But] I feel like we'll be able to push and get a little higher than 3%, but we're going to maximize any kind of revenue that we can."
Bacon applauds state lawmakers for what he calls the best state budget for public education in years, but he said it still doesn't match the spending power of pre-recession budgets.
"So, we're going to be able to at least make some small steps forward, but to do anything grand with what we wanted to do with teacher salaries, it's just not going to be there for this go-around," Bacon said.
So, these districts will have to get creative to continue to hire and retain in a climate where so many employees are looking out of the classroom for work.
Meanwhile, Oldham County's Board of Education is set to vote on their salary increases in a meeting on Monday. In a statement, they told WHAS11 the new state budget allows them to give raises but the exact number is to be determined.
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