At a time when the federal government in Washington, D.C. is dismantling public education, Kentucky has made it the cornerstone of our record economic era.
The U.S. Secretary of Education was sworn in with one stated goal: to be the last U.S. Secretary of Education. Linda McMahon’s top priority is dismantling billion-dollar initiatives that are lifelines for American children.
Thankfully, the contrast between this federal administration’s short-sighted views on education and Kentucky’s values could not be more stark.
The Beshear-Coleman administration has always put education first because we know the future of Kentucky’s economy is in our classrooms today.
That’s why, in every budget proposal, we have prioritized record funding for our public schools and significant raises for our educators. Our proposals included fully funding transportation for the first time in 20 years, as well as textbooks, technology and classroom resources that have gone unfunded for far too long. While our General Assembly failed to act on some of these, we’d made clear that education should always be a priority.
We waived the GED fee, which was the biggest barrier to earning a high school equivalency. And since we implemented that change, over 25,000 Kentuckians have pursued a GED, which can improve their earning power and change the trajectory of their lives.
We restored respect to the teaching profession by lifting up our teachers instead of disrespecting them. As the first administration in Kentucky’s history to appoint a current teacher and a high school student to the state board of education, we literally gave them a seat at the table.
My Team Kentucky Student Mental Health Initiative led to over $40 million in federal funding being awarded for school-based mental health resources. And I worked across the aisle with Kentucky’s Commissioner of Agriculture to help agriculture education reach our elementary school students for the first time in Kentucky’s history.
However, the biggest win for public education came from the voters in 2024 when every single one of Kentucky’s 120 counties overwhelmingly rejected charter schools and voucher programs, which syphon off public tax dollars and send them to unaccountable private schools. It was a message heard loud and clear: Kentucky values public education.
From our first campaign in 2018 to today, and with about two years left in our final term, Governor Beshear and I have made a promise to public schools and we’ve kept it, in both word and action.
But, in the world of education, we consistently strive to be better tomorrow than we are today. So, while we certainly should be proud of how far we’ve come, we must remain focused on our future.
The next piece of the education puzzle in Kentucky is Pre-K for All – an issue that isn’t just bipartisan, it’s non-partisan.
Pre-K For All would be a win for Kentucky’s economy, our businesses, our families and our children. Right now, with rising prices due to unnecessary tariff fights, families need more help than ever paying bills. Pre-K For All would boost parents’ earnings by nearly $9,000 per year. Those are more dollars that every family needs.
It would also grow Kentucky’s workforce by 70,000 people helping our businesses meet demand, and helping more parents and caregivers return to work. Right now, 79 of our 120 counties – nearly two-thirds – don’t have access to enough child care to serve every family who needs it. So many of our neighbors want to return to work, but can’t find the child care – or cant afford it. Pre-K For All would help with that.
Over half of Kentucky’s kids start school below grade level, which puts them in danger before they ever set foot in school. Access to pre-K is the best way to change that. We cannot continue to allow our kids’ zip codes to determine their place in the world by their first day of kindergarten.
In a complex world where change is the only constant, Pre-K For All is the key to opening the door to opportunity for every child. Join the more than 46,000 people who have demanded Pre-K For All in Kentucky by raising your voice at PreKForAll.Ky.gov. Kentucky families need it, our kids deserve it, and it’s time to get it done.
Jacqueline Coleman is Kentucky’s 58th lieutenant governor.