One more thing...yes I have stepped foot in an elementary school lately. As a matter of fact I gave a local public school half a semester to see what it was all about to try to save a little money. Big mistake. I took them out.

Dear chaoticgagi--I do volunteer plenty. In my children's classroom...in private school.

If you are talking about locally,( and probably anywhere else for that matter) I think the new schools were built because of population growth and in the case of Bridgeport, an issue also with the building being so old that keeping it up to code would have been very problematic (if even possible) and cost more than made sense.

At least our kids get direct benefit from a better facility, And certainly need it if crowding is an issue. I am not convinced that increases in teacher salary produce any benefit to our children and am offended when arguements for them are crouched as such or those opposed are critisized as being unconcerned for our children or their futures. That is lying, emotional manipulation and using our kids in it.

I just wonder of these new school buildings and all the money they have taken from everybody. Sure we could have given more money to teachers, and I would have rather done that! New buildings do not prove anything except higher taxes, I do not want more of the same students we have been producing. The statistics prove we are on the wrong track, who can dispute this! We need teachers from other area's to teach our children a broader spectrum of education. I am afraid that if all our students know is what their surroundings offer we are definitely in trouble!!!

I agree completely, some may encourage you to do more but they have crawled into a hole and want everybody else to do the dirty work for them. They will encourage and advise on how to make the situation better but they hide behind the real truth. Until Kentucky can prove to the rest of the nation that they are worthy of a status beyond the bottom of the BARREL

When you look at the students that we produce, are we getting our money's worth paying these teachers what we are paying them! With all that we pay in this (School Tax) I find it irresponsible to consider the quality of students we are producing with the money we are putting into this seed! Which ultimately will result in more of the same>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What difference does that make? Did you understand the principle in this. It is the same as the one responsible people use in there budgeting at home. Just because it is Govt. doesn't mean that there are inexhaustable funds to work with. We want to do more than there are funds to do. This is a priority to the Legistlature, if you think it isn't, you need to watch them on our cable system and go down there on the nights that they finally get around to voting on the budget. They get tore up over this. More than they need to frankly. Just because some are resolute in their deCision to not do all that you think would be best, doesn't mean they don't want to.

There is only so much money and much to be done with it. Yet they are spending 63% of the tax money on education alone. What does it take to make you people happy!?!?

Principles and administrators do have to be paid by the way! Where does the greed end? If you aren't getting enough to have all you want, your being screwed. If your boss makes more than you, your being screwed. If someone owns a company (and the risk involved) makes a large profit from it, someone is getting screwed. If that company tanks fo a while and someone's pay goes down or gets laid off, they are getting screwed. If someone has more than you period, you are getting screwed! This mentality has to stop! It's petty and ignores the foundational principals of our country.

"Currently, the average Kentucky teacher makes $59,815 in salary and benefits, which, as a result of the new budget, will increase to $61,052"

Franklin Co Public Schools salary schedule for 2007-2008 caps out at $59,270 for a RankIAA with 27 years experience. Most teachers never achieve this rank. That's several hours beyond a master's degree. I think the honorable David Floyd may be mistaken or perhaps that's including principals, administration, and superintendents.

Here is the truth from someone who was in the building during the "budget" process and not the lame KY Dept. of "Education":

Education spending and a respect for the law
By Rep. David W. Floyd

Kentucky's constitution requires that the General Assembly conclude its business before the stroke of midnight on April 15. However, the Legislature took the extraordinary step of stopping the clocks during this year's session in order to complete business.

Only God can really stop time; our attempt to do so was irresponsible and displayed contempt for our Constitution and for the rule of law.

The House also ignored the Constitution during last year's special session, when it adjourned without the consent of the Senate. It's irrational to expect citizens to respect the law if lawmakers do not.

Not only did we not follow the Constitution, we failed to adequately address our most pressing issue " fixing the state's retirement system. We studied it, even delaying a vote last year in order to complete new reports before the 2008 legislative session. We hired a new actuary, convened a panel and formulated plans. Yet in the end, we did not close the deal.

It's reasonable to ask: "What would you have done, Dave?"

The simple answer is that I would have adjourned on time.

Also, I would not have delayed negotiations on the pension crisis until the 11th hour. While it's important for legislators to listen and thoroughly weigh the options, action must be taken.

When tough choices require hard decisions, not everyone is going to be happy.

For example, the basic responsibility of the 2008 General Assembly was to pass a budget. A budget was passed, but many are not happy with the spending plan. That's probably a good thing. As a general rule I believe that if we come out of a budget session and everyone is happy, then we spent way too much money.

Our first budget priority is education. About 63 percent of your tax dollars allocated by this year's legislature were spent on education. However, if you read the newspapers or listen to news commentators on television or radio, you might think that we cut spending on local schools. But we didn't.

For 2009, we increased spending for K-12 education by nearly $20 million in 2009. In 2010, K-12 spending will increase another $55 million, making the total budget a little more than $7.75 billion.

The cuts you may have heard about were in certain programs. Extended school services and professional-development funding were each cut by 58 percent, to $13.2 million and $6.3 million respectively. A teacher-mentorship project suffered a 12-percent cut; spending for the Safe Schools program was reduced by 55 percent to $4.7 million and Read to Achieve funding was cut by 4 percent, to $22.5 million.

Read to Achieve is the most important of these programs, and probably the only one that truly affects the education of children. The other programs did not exist, or were not significantly funded, a decade or two ago. They were added over time as extra money became available. Private schools, I'm told, don't have near that kind of extra money to spend and they seem to do just fine.

Administrators and school boards have to make do with the money we give them to run their schools. They make hard decisions, even more difficult because they are close to the individuals who are affected. I always depend on their input when making legislative decisions, and they tell me that these cuts are not good.

So if programs are being cut while additional funding is being appropriated, where is the money going?

Primarily, it's being used to fund increased salary and benefits for teachers and classified employees. It's not unlike a business, where your major operating expense is personnel costs.

Currently, the average Kentucky teacher makes $59,815 in salary and benefits, which, as a result of the new budget, will increase to $61,052 " a raise of 2.1 percent. Average classified employees, who make $27,928, will receive a 3.3-percent raise to $28, 846. So, while we increased funding for local schools, tough choices were made on some programs of questionable educational value so that teachers could be properly compensated.

Creating a fair budget means doing what's in the best interest of all Kentuckians by determining our highest funding priorities. When our spending desire exceeds our spending ability, hard decisions are required.

Making those tough choices is what lawmakers are elected to do.

" Rep. David W. Floyd, R-Bardstown, was elected in 2005.

"Posted by tasha.weghorn April 21, 2008
dear sickofreadingcrapcomments- you obviously have no clue what you are talking about. Yes, I chose this career because I wanted to make a difference. I did not go into this career for the money, obviously, but what I did expect is to get respect for what I chose to do, not insulted by someone who is completely ignorant of a situation. I am intelligent enough to be a doctor or a lawyer, you my darling, are nothing of the sort, nor do you obviously have any class."

Yes, Tasha, you are brilliant. So brilliant that you make no mention of what it is that you feel I have no clue about and am completely ignorant of. I will assume it is about your intelligence. You are so brilliant that you posted under your name, not advisable ever for safety reasons. Your students could probably tell you that. So just by picking up the phone book I learn that someone by your name is SO brilliant and so classy that on a teacher's salary, you may actually rent a nasty residence with an outrageous number of sex offenders living within 1/2 a mile of you (in fact there is only one other place in Frankfort that has any where near as many in such a tight proximity.) I doubt that you would chose this residence, for other reasons, if money were not more important to you than you let on. I also suspect that you are no more than one familial relationship away from Prince Hall Village. I'm not going to argue class with you.

I am not insulting teachers for their choice of career. I just don't appreciate the ones who have the kind of nasty attitude that DaiseyChick expressed about her job and then think they should be exempt from the financial/familial burden that everyone else experiences or else they are being screwed over. They do make better money and benefits because of their education. They have a nice vacation and a skill that can be utilized to earn extra money with some flexablity. Their pay increases come from tax money and most people don't have any more to give.
They need to quit whining like Daisey and if they want more money, they are going to have to work more for it. There is no easy solution for them or the rest of us. Govt. isn't the solution for every whim.