Kentucky education chief points to $40M shortfall in school district funding

Kentucky’s education commissioner on Tuesday pointed to an estimated $40 million shortfall in funding to school districts and said officials are looking at ways to fill the gap.

Education officials are working with legislative budget committee chairmen and the state budget director on funding options to “minimize impacts” to public schools, Kentucky Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher said.

His warning comes two weeks before the state’s Republican supermajority legislature reconvenes in February. Lawmakers met for four days early this month, then returned home for the rest of January — the customary schedule for their 30-day sessions in odd-numbered years. Legislators passed a two-year state budget in 2024, but they can reopen the budget to make changes during this year’s session.

Legislative leaders did not immediately respond to emails to their offices Tuesday seeking comment on the projected funding shortfall. It comes as a student-led lawsuit seeks a ruling that the state is failing in its constitutional duty to provide all Kentucky schoolchildren with an adequate and equitable education.

Fletcher on Tuesday pointed to an estimated $12 million shortfall in so-called SEEK funding for Kentucky’s school districts in the current academic year. The Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, or SEEK, program is the state’s main funding formula for public K-12 schools. The formula includes a base per-pupil allocation, as well as additional funding for transportation costs and special-needs students.

“While we know this estimated shortfall is critical to our public schools, it is important to keep in mind that it represents 1.43% of our overall SEEK funding of $2.7 billion,” Fletcher said.


SEEK shortfalls occurred four times in a 14-year period stretching back to the 2010 fiscal year, he said.

On Tuesday, Fletcher also pointed to estimates of “an additional shortfall of $28 million for funding to public school districts that is specifically conditioned on the availability of funds,” he said.



(AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner, file)