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“Staffing Trends in Kentucky’s Public Schools” is the second in a three-part series of Bluegrass Institute policy briefs examining public education spending in Kentucky.
Written by economists Paul Coomes, Ph.D., and John Garen, Ph.D., the report highlights a surge in non-teacher staffing that’s most pronounced at the district level and a funding increase that continued after staffing levels plateaued.
Key findings include:
- Total school staffing in Kentucky’s K-12 education system grew 39% from 1990 to 2024, with non-teaching staff rising 57% compared to a 21% increase in teachers.
- District-level staff increased 62% since 1993, far outpacing the 15% growth in school-level teachers, while student attendance dropped nearly 3%.
- Despite a 10% decline in average daily attendance since 2013, per-pupil funding has soared an inflation-adjusted136% since 1990, increasing from $8,400 to $19,700, and has continued to rise even after non-teacher staffing plateaued in 2013.
The research also reveals that only five states have worse teaching-to-nonteaching ratios than Kentucky. Six of Kentucky’s seven neighboring states have a higher share of staff who are teachers.
For example, 55% of all public-school staff in Missouri are teachers in the classroom – fifth best in the nation – compared to only 43.5% in Kentucky.
The first report in the series analyzed Kentucky public teachers’ compensation.
