Research that works for Kentucky
Most Kentucky School Districts Will Receive Less in State SEEK Payments Next Year
School districts across Kentucky face challenges as they craft their budgets for the 2026-2027 year, and falling state funding is a primary reason why.
Budget & Tax
On Session’s Final Day, Lawmakers Pass New Tax Breaks for Already-Subsidized Industries
In the final hours of the 2026 legislative session, the General Assembly passed HB 869.
Budget Agreement Cuts and Freezes Funding for Most Services, Continues to Underfund Medicaid
The legislative chambers have agreed to a new two-year state budget (HB 500, later amended...
Budget Cuts Will Harm Services That Benefit Children
In the final budget agreement, the legislature passed the deepest cuts in over a decade...
Last-Minute Tax Breaks Allow Racetracks to Keep Sales Taxes
Update: Key parts of the bill highlighted in this analysis were changed in subsequent legislation...
Criminal Justice
Model Kentucky Ordinance Establishing a County Opioid Abatement Advisory Council
This model ordinance, developed collaboratively with Vital Strategies, is intended as a tool for Kentucky counties to establish a county opioid abatement advisory council to advise and make recommendations on the allocation and use of local opioid abatement funds.
Amid Mounting Harms, Kentucky Is Ramping Up Anti-Immigrant Enforcement
More than a year in to the Trump presidency, the administration’s mass deportation effort has...
ICE Arrests Are Surging in Kentucky as Local Law Enforcement Joins Troubling Mass Deportation Effort
Anti-immigration enforcement has ramped up since the inauguration in January, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
FBI Data Shows Violent Crime Dropped in Kentucky Last Year and Is Now Below Pre-Pandemic Levels
New FBI crime data shows violent crime in Kentucky dropped by 6.3% between 2023 and...
Economic Security
The General Assembly Missed an Opportunity to Address Hunger in Kentucky
Hunger is worsening in Kentucky, following national trends, and yet 63,000 fewer Kentuckians are receiving food assistance due to the cuts passed by Congress last summer in H.R.1.
Senate Bill 257 Would Increase State Costs While Taking Food Assistance From Thousands of Kentuckians
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is Kentucky’s strongest tool in the fight against hunger...
Affordability Is a Crisis for Kentuckians. Here’s What State Leaders Can Do About It.
Every poll tells us that affordability is the major concern facing hardworking Americans. Many are...
Building a Kentucky Workers Can Afford
Hard work runs deep in Kentucky. Kentuckians dug the coal that powered the 20th century...
Education
Most Kentucky School Districts Will Receive Less in State SEEK Payments Next Year
School districts across Kentucky face challenges as they craft their budgets for the 2026-2027 year, and falling state funding is a primary reason why.
Fayette County Schools Debate Is Missing the Context of State Funding Cuts
For the last year, Fayette County Public Schools (FCPS) has been in the middle of...
Legislature Wants to Take Power From the JCPS Board While Cutting Funding to Its Schools
Legislative leaders have been critical of Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in recent years on...
Here’s How Much the House Budget Would Cut SEEK Payments to Your School District
This analysis is based on the initial version of House Bill 500. See here for...
Health Care
State Budget Cuts to Medicaid Are Unnecessary and Would Leave Kentucky Worse Off
As introduced, the upcoming biennial budget includes major cuts to large, state-funded programs as lawmakers contend with falling revenues from recent income tax cuts.
Kentuckians in Every County Will See Health Care Costs Soar Unless Congress Acts
In 2025, more than 90,000 Kentuckians were enrolled in a health insurance plan through kynect,...
The Fight in D. C. Is About Making Life, and Health Care, More Affordable
Getting health care when you need it can be the difference between life and death,...
Make No Mistake, The Big Beautiful Bill Weakens Medicaid
Whether or not you’ve ever needed it, Medicaid forms the bedrock of Kentucky’s entire healthcare...
Jobs & The Economy
A 2022 State Law Slashed Unemployment Insurance, Now Kentuckians Are Running Out of Benefits
In 2022, the General Assembly passed House Bill (HB) 4, a sweeping cut to Kentucky’s unemployment insurance program that reduced the number of weeks workers could claim jobless benefits.
Growing Death Rate and International Immigration Are Driving Recent Kentucky Population Trends
Over the past five years, Kentucky’s population grew by 2.2% according to new Census data,...
The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Mass Deportation: What’s at Risk in Kentucky
More than 230,000 people in Kentucky, 4% of the state’s population, are immigrants. [efn_note]KyPolicy analysis...
Kentucky Has Had No Net Job Growth Over the Last Two Years
Kentucky's job growth has stalled, with new federal data showing no net job increases in...
