HB499: AN ACT relating to career and technical education funding, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergency.

Legislative Summary

Repeals and reenacts KRS 157.069 to define terms, to require the Office of Career and Technical Education (CTE) within the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to identify CTE programs or pathways as high cost or general cost, to provide for a funding calculation from general fund appropriations for CTE based 60 percent upon weighted full-time equivalent enrollment and 40 percent upon specified incentives, to provide that state-operated area technology center operating costs be funded by the general fund appropriation to KDE, to allows funds to be used for CTE programming for students in grades 5-8, to disburse 75 percent of administrative operating funds previously designated to state-operated facility administrative costs that were converted to locally operated facilities to the locally operated facility and 25 percent to the CTE innovation and support fund for innovation and support of CTE programs, to create the CTE support fund, to require the office to provide oversight of fund usage by recipients, to require promulgation of necessary administrative regulations by Kentucky Board of Education, to require that program qualification and funding distribution be posted on KDE’s website, to require that local boards of education provide a one-time award to qualifying employees of a converted CTE center based on raises provided for executive branch employees, to require that KDE calculate the amounts of one-time awards, to allow districts to request reimbursement for payment of one-time awards, and to appropriate funds in the amount of $170,000 to the Learning and Results Services budget unit to administer the awards; EFFECTIVE July 1, 2024; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.