Thousands of teacher vacancies, declining test scores: KY governor calls for immediate action

With declining test scores and 11,000 statewide teacher vacancies, Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday unveiled an “education first” legislative agenda that he said would advance student learning after the COVID-19 pandemic classroom disruptions.

Beshear is asking the General Assembly in the 2023 session to reopen the budget and give all public school employees an additional 5% raise, enact universal pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten, and restore funding for professional development, textbooks and instructional materials.

Beshear said he wanted to help teachers with student loan forgiveness by giving an annual $3,000 award. He said Kentucky’s teachers’ starting salaries are the 44th lowest in the United States.

He is also proposing eight regional social and emotional learning institutes for educators across Kentucky and proposing two new grant programs to provide more mental health services for students.

Beshear also wants to restore pensions for new teachers. He said his March 2021 veto of a bill cutting those pensions was overridden. He said teachers no longer have guaranteed benefits after so many years of service.

Currently teachers are in a hybrid plan in which they are paying more into retirement, Beshear said.

There are 11,000 teacher vacancies in Kentucky schools statewide, the governor said. Teacher shortages are a result of not just the pandemic but years of cutbacks that have left schools underfunded. He said it’s the direct result of the elimination of pensions for new teachers along with refusals to fund pay raises that are needed.

Beshear, a Democrat, said he had fought for a raise for educators in each budget session of the General Assembly and each year the General Assembly has failed to act in a way that would impact the teacher shortage. While a proposal for raises for school employees is not new, teacher vacancies and low test scores are “showing that we must act now,” Beshear said.

Kentucky Republican House and Senate Leaders did not immediately respond.

“We need to increase teacher pay and make sure we pay them what they deserve,” Beshear said at a news conference at the Capitol rotunda.

He said Kentucky has record-setting revenue surpluses and can afford it.

Kentucky public schools and those across the United States shut down classrooms for months and resorted to at-home learning during the COVID-19 pandemic that began in March 2020. Dozens of Kentucky educators were among the 17,000 Kentuckians who have died of COVID, Beshear said.

Some Kentucky 4th and 8th graders produced the lowest scores in more than 10 years on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress also known as the Nation’s Report Card, according to results released Monday.

The latest round of test results for Kentucky students show that the impact of the pandemic is “real and significant”, said Kentucky Board of Education Chairwoman Lu Young. Beshear said Kentucky’s 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress performance was consistent with that of the rest of the nation.

Beshear said recent kindergarten screeners showed that 62.7% of Kentucky’s children were below average for academic and cognitive abilities. He said other states have already enacted universal pre-K.

“I think we all recognize that we are in a vastly different place today than we were three years ago, and it’s important to acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on many students, including slowing academic progress, increased social emotional and mental health needs and delayed behavioral development,” Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said in a statement. “It is also important to recognize that schools are a reflection of the communities we serve and the supply chain and workforce challenges that are affecting other industries across our state and nation are also playing out in education with the shortage of teachers and other critical positions that impact school operations.”