VIEWS CONTRIBUTORS EXPRESS HERE ARE THEIR OWN AND CLAYCONEWS MAY OR MAY NOT AGREE
Opinion Contributor: Jason Bailey, Executive Director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
Published December 4, 2023 at 10:33 AM EST
With the 2024 General Assembly now less than a month away, the Kentucky Together coalition, which includes education, faith, health care, labor and community organizations, began a public education campaign today with an important message: Kentuckians need a budget that delivers for them, and Frankfort has the resources to make that happen.
“With $3.7 billion already piled up in the state’s so-called ‘rainy day fund’ and more than a billion dollars being added to the fund every year, lawmakers can easily afford a budget in the 2024 legislative session that meets significantly more of Kentuckians’ pressing needs,” said Jason Bailey, Executive Director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, a member of the Kentucky Together coalition.
As part of its campaign for a budget that delivers for the people, Kentucky Together relaunched its website, which now includes a partial list of the many needs Kentuckians face after too many years of inadequate budgets. Among those needs are an increase in core school funding to address the teacher and bus driver shortage and widening school funding inequity, additional money for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to address the housing crisis ranging from our cities to flood-impacted eastern Kentucky, and funding for higher education, mental health, drug treatment and support for people with disabilities.
The website also includes a way for Kentuckians to contact their lawmakers and ask them to prioritize funding for critical needs. A total of $5 billion is expected in the rainy day fund by next summer, an amount that far exceeds what is necessary to protect against the next downturn. And merely passing a continuation budget for the next two years that leaves out pressing needs would result in billions more being added unnecessarily in that fund.
“The recurring money that is piling up in the rainy day fund each year presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make real improvements across the commonwealth,” said Bailey. “We can prioritize delivering for our communities with these available funds and make strides toward a Kentucky where everyone can thrive.”
Learn more at KentuckyTogether.org
To learn more about the balance growing in the rainy day fund, read our recent piece in the Courier Journal.
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The Kentucky Together coalition includes the: AARP-Kentucky Advocacy Action Network Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center Appalshop Center for Accessible Living Children, Inc Community Action Council Fahe Inc. Fairness Campaign Forward Kentucky Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky Jefferson County Teachers Association Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentucky Association of School Superintendents Kentucky Association of Transportation Engineers Kentucky Association of School Councils Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence Kentucky Council of Churches Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Kentucky Conservation Committee Kentucky Education Association Kentucky Environmental Foundation Kentucky Equal Justice Center Kentucky Government Retirees Kentucky Mental Health Coalition Kentucky Public Retirees Kentucky Retired Teachers Association Kentucky State AFL-CIO Kentucky Sustainable Business Council Kentucky Transportation Employees’ Association Kentucky Voices for Health Kentucky’s Voice for Early Childhood Mountain Association National Association of Social Workers — Kentucky National Conference of Firemen & Oilers, SEIU Progress Kentucky Operation Turnout Owensboro NAACP Branch 3107 The Women’s Network United Food and Commercial Workers Local 227 |
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Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
433 Chestnut Street, Berea, KY 40403
