The start of school has been making a wave across Kentucky, with students returning in early August and others who are returning this week. After several years of uncertainty, this beginning seems reminiscent of the pre-covid back to school frenzy.
The Connections Newsletter-Welcome Back Edition, hit inboxes in early August, as mailed letters also made their way to each Superintendent in Kentucky public schools
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A budget for fiscal years 2023 and 2024 was voted out by the Kentucky House of Representatives on Thursday. While continuing many features of the original House Bill 1, the updated budget shows important increases to investments in early literacy, career and technical education, and postsecondary institutions, along with a reduced contribution to teacher retirement. This post will highlight the newest changes and added investments, while raising concerns about early childhood underinvestment.
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Governor Beshear’s recommended budget for the next two fiscal years aims very high for most elements of the education continuum, calling for Kentucky to make major steps toward a Big Bold Future. The Office of State Budget Director has posted the full plans, and you can also get further detail from our early childhood, P-12 education, and postsecondary budget summaries.
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The 2022 Kentucky General Assembly can take action to give Kentucky’s youngest learners the strong start they need to grow into exemplary readers and high achievers. Early literacy is the key to ensure more young Kentuckians excel in the primary classroom. Students must learn to read from kindergarten through third grade so that they may read to learn in school and throughout the course of their lives.
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Prichard Committee Member William “Bill” Garmer passed away peacefully surrounded by family on July 30, 2021, in Lexington. Bill became a member of the Prichard Committee’s board of directors in 2011 and was serving as Secretary/Treasurer at the time of his passing. He joined the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence in 2010.
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The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) this week approved campus tuition and fee rates for public colleges and universities for the upcoming 2022 school year. All of Kentucky’s postsecondary institutions stayed under the tuition caps adopted by CPE:
No more than 3.0 percent over two years, and a maximum increase of no more than 2.0 percent in any one year, for public research and comprehensive universities.
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Kentucky is expected to receive an estimated $2.4 billion from the American Recovery Plan’s State Fiscal Recovery Fund. This large pot of money can be used for a broad set of purposes including infrastructure necessary for our future success – like broadband (for which the General Assembly already dedicated $250 million). Additional funds from the ARP will be distributed to cities and counties directly from the Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. Kentucky counties are estimated to receive $1.15 billion with Kentucky cities receiving $751.5 million.
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The General Assembly completed the 2021 legislative session last night having spent the final two days considering vetoes by the Governor and negotiating a plan for the over $2 billion Kentucky is to receive in American Rescue Plan stimulus funds. The passage of House Bill 192, the revised state budget, was the key focus this session.
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Al Smith, a founding member of the Prichard Committee, died on Friday, March 19, at his home in Florida after suffering renal failure. He was 94.
Smith was appointed in 1980 as an original member of the Committee on Higher Education in Kentucky’s Future. After issuing its report the following year and seeking change, the group recast itself in 1983 as the Prichard Committee, a non-profit citizens group focused on K-12 improvements.
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