A press conference Tuesday in the Capitol rotunda was equal parts pep rally and a plea for help.
A dozen speakers laid out the case for more equitable funding for rural school districts while touting the high graduation rates in eastern Kentucky.
Jeff Hawkins is executive director of the Kentucky Valley Education Cooperative or KVAC. He said a new funding model is needed to give eastern Kentucky students the same advantages as those in more prosperous districts.
“If we do not do that then we run the very real risk of continuing to see our region on the trajectory that we have been on for decades,” he said.
Lawrence County School Superintendent Robbie Fletcher said the current model for funding rural school districts makes it harder to recruit and retain teachers. He said teachers are “an endangered species” in eastern Kentucky.
“We have a shortage in areas such as career and technical education, math, science, we have a shortage when it comes to advance placement classes, dual credit classes foreign language you will see all in eastern Kentucky,” he said.
KVEC produced a 110-page book laying out the need for a new funding model.