According to a new report from the Council for Better Education, made up of superintendents from across Kentucky, the state’s funding of its schools is $1.3 billion lower than it was in 2008.
Why? Because it has not kept up with inflation.
The results are obvious: classes that are too big to be taught effectively, staffing shortfalls, insufficient supplies, cutbacks in transportation, and less support for students.
What does this look like at the local level? According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Fayette County would need to go from $4,326 per student each year to $5,743 per student – an additional $76.3 million in state funding per year.
Yes, that is what it would take to get ONE school system’s funding back to 2008 levels.
Some of you may remember the 1989 Rose decision, that said that Kentucky was not providing the quality, fairly-funded school system that the state constitution mandated. That court order led to the Kentucky Education Reform Act, and KERA helped move Kentucky schools to the front of the line when it came to improvement.
But over the years, the General Assembly has bragged about increasing funding – but the increases haven’t kept up with inflation.
So now we have a new lawsuit against the state, filed by a group of Kentucky students, claiming Kentucky has once again “failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide all students with an adequate and equitable public education.”
This latest report backs up their claim. It will be interesting to see what the courts have to say about it.
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