An Education President?
Kentucky's Andy Beshear Offers a Path Forward
A week after the 2024 elections, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear penned an OpEd in the New York Times about the way forward for Democrats and America.
In it, he talked about his unwavering support for public education as one reason he is a second-term Democratic Governor in a state Donald Trump won by 30 points.
We wake up thinking about the public school we will drop our kids off at, and we wake up thinking about public safety in our communities.
The focus of the Democratic Party must return to creating better jobs, more affordable and accessible health care, safer roads and bridges, the best education for our children and communities where people aren’t just safer but also feel safer.
Beshear won re-election by five points in 2023 in part because of his steadfast opposition to efforts to privatize the state’s public schools by way of a voucher scheme.
Today, he was on CBS’s Face the Nation and echoed the importance of supporting public schools as a key element in any future national Democratic campaign.
It seems likely Beshear is gearing up for a 2028 run for the White House.
It’s noteworthy that he has made supporting public schools a top priority as a campaigner and as Governor.
Beshear is proposing an 11% raise for all school employees. The proposal would bring starting teacher pay in Kentucky above $44,000/year (above both Tennessee AND Alabama) and move the average teacher salary in the Commonwealth to more than $64,000.
The answer to concerns about the performance in our public schools lies with actually funding and working with our public schools, not trying to divert money away to folks that you give more flexibility to than the group you're asking to do a better job.
Kentucky voters not only re-elected Beshear, they also voted 2-1 against a ballot initiative that would have allowed school vouchers in the state.
In fact, defending public schools is wildly popular among voters in both red and blue states.
In public policy news out of Tennessee, while the Republican Governor and his legislative allies have made universal school vouchers their top legislative priority in 2025, Democrats have made their top priority ending the state’s oppressive grocery tax.
