Candidates for Governor release education plans

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Higher pay and higher test scores. Those are two of the top discussions amongst the candidates for Kentucky Governor.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Governor Andy Beshear released their education proposals this week.

On Tuesday, Cameron announced his “Catch-Up Plan,” including cracking down on chronic absenteeism and making up for pandemic learning loss.

“It’s a bold strategy built on peer-reviewed best practices to aggressively close the learning gap,” he said. “To improve the classroom environment and to give resources directly to our teachers.”

On Wednesday, Governor Andy Beshear revealed his “Education First” plan.

“This is a $1.1B investment in the salaries of our public-school educators, to bus drivers, to custodians to kitchen staff,” he said.

He proposed an 11 percent pay raise for teachers and school personnel, saying it would be the largest single pay raise for public school educators in 40 years.

“This increase would bring Kentucky’s average teacher starting salary, based on the NEA report, to $42,191- which would move us from 44th to 24th based on this study,” said Beshear.

Cameron’s plan includes a new starting rate for teacher pay of $41,500. He says reducing administrative bloat will allow more money to go towards educator salaries.

“To repair and restore our foundation,” he said. “Addressing the learning loss by treating it as the emergency that it is. We will implement the largest expansion of reading and math instruction in the history of Kentucky.”

Cameron proposed fully funding a voluntary 16-week tutoring program to help students who have fallen behind the most.

Beshear says he’d like to see Universal Pre-K and student transportation fully funded, as well as more action on student loan forgiveness for educators.

The two will continue working on these assignments until their deadline in November.

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