Stephen Mapp

Education On Day One, I’ll introduce an “Education Excellence Act,” which immediately boosts our SEEK school‐funding formula by at least 300 per student to catch up with inflation and which locks in automatic, annual inflation adjustments so the funding never falls behind. Criminal Justice / Public Safety State-level momentum is already building: the current budget bumps the annual law-enforcement training stipend to 4,562 by FY 2026, and legislation would direct a slice of the insurance-premium surcharge into a new EMS Professionals Foundation Fund to help ambulance services recruit, equip, and keep qualified medics. I’ll back both measures – and, just as important, work hand-in-glove with the Hardin and Breckinridge fiscal courts so local dollars are lined up to match every state grant. That partnership will let departments offer competitive retention bonuses and retire aging radios, turnout gear, and ambulances, giving our first responders the pay and equipment they need to keep every neighborhood safe. Education We’ll protect and maintain vital add‐ons for transportation, small rural schools, special‐needs programs, after/before school program, and prohibit any year‐end SEEK surplus from being swept into the general fund. Legislation I’ll support HB 590, which would raise the apprenticeship credit from 1,000 up to 2,000—3,500 in rural incentive counties – giving small employers real help with training costs. I’ll pair that with a refundable child-care expense credit and a state match for the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit. Economy I’ll push to increase the Kentucky Small Business Tax Credit cap from 25,000 to 40,000 per year and streamline the paperwork, expand the KEDFA Direct Loan and KSBCI 2.0 funds with a state-financed interest-rate buy-down, and set a 10 percent “buy-local” goal in state procurement so Main-Street firms have a guaranteed customer close to home.