Commonwealth Policy Center

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is calling for funding universal pre-K for all four-year-olds in Kentucky, and he’s proposing an 11% pay raise for teachers and all school staff. This is a response to Daniel Cameron’s promise to catch students up who’ve suffered academically due to Gov. Beshear’s shutdown of schools during Covid. Of course, we call this politics. But it’s important for voters to understand that the governor, whether it’s Andy Beshear or Daniel Cameron if he’s elected in November, really doesn’t have much to do with the state budget. That’s the role of the Kentucky state legislature. All budgetary items originate in our legislature, and it’s state legislators that pass the budgets.