Why Kentucky School Funding Is A Huge Concern

For This Year And The Future

This from the Prichard Blog:

Over at Prich, Susan has been putting some scale to the school funding shortfall. While in Frankfort there are no signs of hope.

For the past four years declines in state and local revenues for Kentucky schools were largely offset by federal dollars. That relief is now a thing of the past.

[W]e know that the trend for this year and beyond will be decline unless state leaders step up in the current legislative session. We also know those funding losses will pose a grave danger to Kentucky's bold commitment to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in higher education and in the job markets of the future...

[L]ooking to the current year and the future, we know our schools are now working with a federal decline and a state increase that is nowhere near enough to make up those losses. We also have reason to worry about local funding. The newest report on state revenue says that July to December state property tax collections in 2011 dropped more than 9% from the 2010 level. If local tax receipts show a similar trend, the results could be disastrous. It's too early to know that will happen, but definitely time to be very concerned that it might.