Schools face $20 million spending cut

By Jim Warren – jwarren@herald-leader.com

Terry Holliday, Kentucky commissioner of education

The Kentucky Department of Education plans to cut its spending by about $20 million over the rest of this fiscal year, which could affect many programs in local school districts around the state.

Bedrock items including the basic funding formula for local schools would be spared in the reductions. But dropout prevention, community education, and gifted and talented programs are among those that could be affected. The cuts would come from the state pre-school through 12th-grade education budget, including operations of the state Education Department.

Where and when the cuts would be made hasn’t yet been determined, state education officials said Tuesday.

Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday said the cuts — which he outlined Monday via e-mail to school superintendents around the state — are in line with Gov. Steve Beshear’s new plan to reduce state spending by 6 percent to offset state revenue declines.

Holliday said in his e-mail message that “given the magnitude of this most recent projected cut ($20 million total), reductions have to be considered to not only KDE operations, but to virtually all general fund programs and monies to school districts.”

State Education Department spokeswoman Lisa Gross said Tuesday that department officials are reviewing budget line items to determine where cuts might be made. It probably won’t be an easy decision, she said.

“In the past when we looked at cuts, we focused on the Flexible Focus Funds, which include things like textbooks, professional development, or extended school services,” she said. “Taking money out of that, we believed, did not cause too much harm.

“But we’ve already had to do that quite a bit, and the pot is getting smaller and smaller. Now, we’re having to look at line items.”

The Support Education Excellence in Kentucky program, which makes up about three-fourths of the education budget and provides basic operating money for local school districts, would be left alone, according to Holliday’s e-mail to superintendents. Health insurance coverage for local school district employees also would not be touched, he said.

But programs that might be hit include career and technical education, math achievement and dropout prevention, which costs about $700,000 a year.

Ironically, first lady Jane Beshear is heading up a campaign, called Graduate Kentucky, to boost high school graduation and reduce the dropout rate.

“That sums up the problem that we face,” Gross said. “Just about every one of these line items is a pet project for someone.

“You could look at each one and say it is a program that helps a large number of kids, or it has the potential to do so. But that’s where we are.”