House Passes Austere Budget That Adds to Already Overfunded Reserves and Aims for More Tax Cuts
Kentucky has a historic opportunity to invest in critical community needs, but the House passed a modest budget – lacking...
Care at the Cliff: Kentucky’s Child Care Providers Plan Tuition Hikes, Wage Cuts and Closures Unless State Steps In With Substantial Investment
In a new survey of Kentucky child care providers, more than a quarter said closing their center is the likeliest or next-to-most likely action they’ll be forced to take if...
Kentucky Child Care Faces a $330 Million Fiscal Cliff, the General Assembly Can Help
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was a lifeline for child care in Kentucky, providing substantial resources that prevented a continued decline in this vital sector. Child care centers used...
Kentucky Average Teacher Pay Fails to Keep Up with Inflation in Most Districts, Remains Far Behind 2008 Levels
In 80% of Kentucky school districts, average classroom teacher salaries declined in the current school year compared to last year once inflation is taken into account, according to a KyPolicy...
The Money Is There and So Are the Needs: Preview of the 2024-2026 Budget of the Commonwealth
Introduction The General Assembly faces a critically important opportunity with the 2024-2026 Budget of the Commonwealth. A strong national economy has resulted in robust recent state revenue growth, but the...
More Than 300,000 Kentuckians Have Been Charged for Cannabis Over the Past Two Decades
Over the past two decades, as states around the nation have moved to decriminalize and legalize cannabis, more than 300,000 people in Kentucky have been charged with a cannabis-related crime,...
The Funding Gap Between Kentucky’s Wealthy and Poor School Districts Is Now Worse Than Levels Declared Unconstitutional
The difference in per-pupil funding between the state’s poorest and wealthiest districts now exceeds the level deemed unconstitutional by the Kentucky Supreme Court more than three decades ago. In 1990,...
Kentucky’s Inflation-Adjusted Minimum Wage Now at Its Lowest Since 1950
Today marks 14 years since the federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 an hour to $7.25. For the dozens of states, including Kentucky, that have failed to boost the minimum...
A Child Care Apocalypse Is Coming
High quality, affordable child care is essential for kids to learn, parents to work and the economy to prosper. But for years, families have struggled to find and afford care,...
Three Years of Kentucky’s Jobs Recovery in Four Charts
In April 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic bottomed out the economy, and Kentucky lost 294,900 jobs – or 15.0% of the workforce – in just two months. New...