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Department officials seek $325,000 biennial funding to adjust ATC step-and-rank salaries
Summary
Kentucky education officials told the subcommittee the KRS 156 step-and-rank schedule for Area Technology Centers may need statutory and schedule changes to improve recruitment and retention; an ABR request of $325,000 over the biennium was presented.
Beth Hargis and Lauren Graves of the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Career and Technical Education presented the committee with an overview of the KRS 156 salary schedule for Area Technology Centers (ATCs) and a related ABR request totaling $325,000 over the next biennium.
"Using the statutory framework, the office of career and technical education sets the KRS 156 salary schedule based on years of service, which is steps, and educational rank," Lauren Graves told members, citing the statute referenced in the presentation. The presenters explained the schedule ties starting pay to the statewide average base teacher salary and that adjustments are applied retroactively to July 1 each year.
Beth Hargis walked the committee through example calculations and indices used for administrators, noting ATC administrators work a longer year than teachers and receive an administrative index. The presentation showed the 1–56 schedule’s relative ranking among 171 districts and flagged that while the schedule is competitive with many local districts it remains uncompetitive with private‑sector business and industry—an issue the presenters said hampers recruitment of trade instructors.
Presenters described a recently convened KRS 156 salary work group that has begun to analyze variances in step and rank and suggested possible changes such as uniform percentage increases across ranks or moving from a five‑year step to annual steps to improve retention. The ABR figures presented were $150,000 in FY27 and $175,000 in FY28.
Representative Klein told the committee he favors stronger pay for trade instructors and urged consideration of a separate scale to keep trade educators competitive with industry wages. The committee did not take a formal vote on the ABR request during the session.
