FCPS new budget to include at least $50K starting salaries for teachers
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Fayette County will be the first district in Kentucky to set starting teacher salaries of at least $50,000 in a new budget proposal approved by the board of education Monday.
The 2023-24 Fayette County Public Schools spending plan includes the new teacher salaries, plus an expansion of services to students. It totals $867 million. Those funds come from several areas, including 64 percent from local sources, 34 percent from state sources, 0.9 percent from transfers, 0.4 percent from lease proceeds and 0.07 percent from federal reimbursements.
The budget approved yesterday invests 86 percent of new spending (more than $40.6 million) into schools and classrooms, FCPS Spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said.
The new plan also includes the following:
- $8.9 million to add 157 more teachers and other professionals to provide direct service to students, including fine arts instructors, school nurses, school bus drivers, coaches, interventionists, paraeducators and specialists for students who receive gifted and talented, special education and multilingual services
- $900,000 toward enhancing early childhood education, opening more preschool classrooms and adding another grade level at both Rise STEM Academy for Girls and George Washington Carver Academy
- $448,000 to expand innovative programming and college and career exploration activities
- Additional funding for band and orchestra instruments, necessary maintenance and facility upgrades, and the acquisition of new air-conditioned school buses
Teachers in the audience at Monday’s school board meeting called the new salary schedule “life-changing.”
“I’m in that time of my life where I’m thinking about having children,” said Frederick Douglass High School English teacher Erika Pennington, who is in her fourth year of teaching. “One of the biggest considerations was whether I would be able to afford child care. This decision solidifies that I will be able to return to the classroom.”
Second-year teacher Ashley Offenbach said she went into education knowing she’d have to work extra jobs to pay her bills.
“But the idea that I won’t have to work after school every day and I can get home at a reasonable hour means I’ll be able to focus on the responsibilities I’m meant to,” said Offenbach, who teaches fourth grade at The Academy for Leadership at Millcreek Elementary.
To review the full budget, head here:
