Gov. Andy Beshear delivered his first budget address last night, proposing a two-year budget that his office described as an “education first” budget that “ends 14 years of cuts.”
He began by listing a set of “core values” that he believed all Kentuckians shared:
- “Public education is not only the key to breaking cycles of poverty for our families, it is the key to leaping forward as a state.
- The most important profession, the most important title in Kentucky is “teacher,” and it is time we invest in them.
- Health care is a basic human right and it is our responsibility to sign up every Kentucky child for some form of health coverage.
- It is time to make a critical major investment to stop the rampant child abuse and neglect in this state.
- We must keep our promise and fully fund our public pension obligations.
- It is time we show our state employees that we value their sacrifice and begin to reinvest in them.
- That one way we serve the lost, the lonely and the left behind is by supporting our quasi- governmental agencies like Child Advocacy Centers and Rape Crisis Centers.
- We must direct more dollars to our struggling communities, which include our coal counties and our urban neighborhoods.
- And that we must support our law enforcement and firefighters who run into danger to pull our loved ones out of it.”
The income
Beshear outlined $1.2 billion in additional income over the last budget.
- $841 million in increased tax revenue over current levels
- $288 million in fund transfers (moving monies out of funds that are either obsolete or have a surplus). Note that this is less than half of previous fund transfers, and doesn’t touch the state health insurance fund.
- $256 million through “maximizing resources” – legal settlements, retiring debt service, and enhanced tax collection efforts
- $147 million in new revenue
- Sports betting
- Cigarette tax increase
- Tax on vaping
- Increase in limited liability entity tax
The spending
Education
- $2,000 across-the-board raise for teachers. Beshear noted that other states are doing this, including Georgia and Mississippi, and we need to do it to improve hiring and retention.
- Reinstate the teacher loan forgiveness program and teacher’s scholarship program
- The full health insurance contribution for retired teachers
- A 1% increase in SEEK funding
- $11 million for textbooks, which was not funded at all in the last budget
- $18 million for school safety upgrades, as required in the school safety bill
- $100 million for school building upgrades
- A 1% increase in funding for higher education, ending years of cuts
- $200 million bond pool for colleges and universities to do necessary maintenance
- Does not fund full-day kindergarten, but does allocate $10 million for pre-K in disadvantaged communities
- $35 million for the loan to U of L to purchase Jewish Hospital
State workers
- A 1% raise for state workers in each year of the biennium
- Funds to hire an additional 350 social workers
- Fully funding the ARC payment to the pensions
- Increased training funds for police and firefighters
Across the state
- Fully funding expanded Medicaid
- $2 million to enhance KCHIP enrollment, and $13 million for child support collection work
- Returns all coal severance monies back to the counties, instead of splitting it with the state as was done in the past
- Funding Economic Development Venture Fund for urban areas that need the investment
- Two major transportation projects: Mountain Parkway in east Kentucky, and the I-69 bridge in west Kentucky
- $100 million to improve rural roads
- More funding for Commonwealth Attorneys
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