Kentucky's House budget (HB 500) as introduced isn't just bad for public education — it's a full-scale retreat from our kids, our classrooms, and the people who hold our schools together.

HB 500 freezes per-pupil school funding for the next two years, continuing a 20-year pattern of letting our schools fall further and further behind the cost of living. It provides zero educator raises. Zero new preschool investment. And it underfunds school transportation funding by $129 million-a-year.

Then it goes further. HB 500 caps the state's contribution to employee health insurance, triggering what the official Kentucky Personnel Cabinet says could be a “devastating” 78% premium increase on every teacher, bus driver, school employee, and retiree in the Commonwealth, impacting 310,506 people.

A school bus driver will lose $535.18 per month. A teacher loses nearly $500 every month. And at the same time, benefits will be drastically reduced, taking yet more money of these dedicated public servants’ pockets. These cuts will make it much harder for us to recruit and retain the best for our kids.

All of this while Kentucky has spent the last several years cutting income taxes in a way that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Kentuckians. There was money for tax cuts for wealthy Kentuckians. Why is there no money for school buses, teacher health care, or a single raise?

That's not a budget shortfall. That's a choice. And it's the wrong one.

Tell your legislators to pass a budget that fully funds public employee health care . It takes 30 seconds.

310,506 people are counting on you to speak up. Send a letter to your legislators right now telling them to fund public employee health care in HB 500.