Republican-backed budget bill with increased K-12 funding sent to Kentucky’s Democratic governor

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s legislature delivered on a new two-year state budget Thursday that would increase funding for K-12 schools as lawmakers accomplished their biggest responsibility of this year’s legislative session.

The spending plan won final passage in the House and now heads to Gov. Andy Beshear, who has line-item veto authority over state budget bills. The Senate gave its approval late Wednesday as lawmakers hurried to finish work on the budget and many other issues before starting a two-week break.

The budget measure represents the state’s signature policy document and completing the two-year budget was the biggest task for the GOP supermajority legislature when this year’s session started in early January. The final version was the product of negotiating sessions by legislative leaders.

As usual, much of the focus was on education funding.

Per-pupil funding under SEEK — the state’s main funding formula for public K-12 schools — would increase by more than 9% during the next two-year budget cycle.

“This is a solid budget,” Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said Wednesday night. “It is the best budget that has been proposed or passed by the General Assembly.”

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