HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The Board of Education covered a lot of ground during their most recent meeting by approving the next salary schedule for employees, discussing a potential hard hit to incoming federal funding, and extending the superintendent’s contract through 2030.
Director of Finance Jessica Darnell presented the 2026-27 salary schedule for board approval during the May 21 meeting. A Salary Committee collaborated at various meetings to create the schedule for all district employees, comprised of around fifteen individuals from different levels of employment at CCPS.
According to Darnell, there are no major changes to next year’s salary schedule and there are no across the board raises on the table for teachers in the district. However, licensed practical nurses and registered nurses working in schools will receive a pay increase of $2.93 per hour in an attempt to make their pay more competitive.
Despite the lack of a raise, CCPS is continuing to offer a one-time $1,000 stipend in November to all full-time certified and classified employees. In addition, employees are still eligible to receive “step” increases in pay, which raises their salary by around 1% each year they are employed at CCPS, with a higher bump on milestone years. The board unanimously approved the salary schedule.
Tentative budget approval, discussion
The school board also approved a tentative budget for the 2026-27 year, with a $1.4 million decrease in federal SEEK funding anticipated at $32,102,228. In response to this, Darnell said this budget is on the conservative side saying, “We are working on projections, and we’re just moving forward cautiously with our budget.”
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SEEK is a formula-based approach to funding K-12 education in Kentucky. The intent is to increase funding equity between districts with different levels of taxable property, according to the Kentucky School Boards Association. The amount that CCPS receives is directly impacted by student attendance and local property values. As property values go up, SEEM funding goes down and vice versa.
The district will not know what their final amount of SEEK funding will be until property assessments are done in July by the PVA’s office. Currently, 47% of the district’s budget comes from SEEK funds while 38% comes from taxes.
This budget was created based on information passed by the General Assembly and disbursed by the Kentucky Department of Education. It first needs board approval before going to KDE, and a final working budget will be presented in September. The tentative budget was unanimously approved by the board.
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Bentzel passes board evaluation, contract extended
In addition to budget talks, the school board also approved a one-year extension of Superintendent Chris Bentzel’s employment agreement. During their workshop meeting earlier this month, Bentzel presented a capstone project to the board ahead of a formal evaluation.
“This is kind of the halfway point in my vision…I think the heavy lifting is over,” Bentzel told the board explaining that he would ideally like to hold the position for around 10 year’s total. He has already served as superintendent for six years, with his current contract extending through 2029.
During the most recent meeting, Board Chair Tom Bell said board members determined that Bentzel has met all of the required leadership standards for the evaluation, ranking him exemplary in all categories. He said, “I know we have one of the best superintendents in Kentucky.”
The board unanimously voted to extend his current contract to June 30, 2030, which is an option the board has during the superintendent’s second contract with the district.
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