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‘Substantive snapshot’ looks at trends related to per-pupil funding, national and state test scores, Black-White achievement gaps, teachers’ salaries and non-teaching staff
This policy point, authored by Bluegrass Insitute Scholar John Garen, Ph.D., summarizes a host of trends and other notable facts involving the commonwealth’s K-12 education spending and performance over the past decades, up to the most currently available data.
Among the report’s key findings:
· Per-pupil funding, adjusted for inflation, rose by 122% – from $7,793 in 1990, when the General Assembly passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act, to $17,337 in 2022.
· Both state and national test scores indicate that a majority of Kentucky’s students are not proficient in grades 4 and 8 math and reading. State K-PREP 2022 results indicate over three-fourths of Black students are not proficient in any of these areas in either grade.
· From 1990 to 2020, non-teaching staff has grown by 55%, compared to only a 5% increase in the number of students; Kentucky’s teaching corps has grown by 21%.
· Comparing 2022 to 1990, per-pupil funding rose more than 10 times faster than teachers’ salaries.
· While SEEK funding has not kept pace with inflation, contributions for pension and health benefits have risen sharply. More than $1 billion is contributed annually to the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System from the state’s General Fund.
