After years of cuts, Beshear seeks 1% increase in funding for Kentucky colleges
Gov. Andy Beshear is proposing a slim budget boost for Kentucky’s state-run universities and colleges, which have had their funding slashed in 12 of the last 13 years.
Beshear called for a 1 percent increase Tuesday in funding for all postsecondary education institutions in the state in his two-year state budget proposal. He also wants to earmark money for several building and infrastructure projects.
In his budget address to lawmakers, Beshear said cuts in higher education have led to tuition increases for students and that Kentucky and South Carolina are the only two states in the nation that have not reinvested in higher education in recent years.
The proposed increase would equal $8.6 million each year from the state’s General Fund and the universities would not have to compete for the money using the state’s performance-based funding model. That funding model, created in 2017, allocates a portion of state funding based on a university’s performance on 11 key standards.
The 1 percent increase is far below what the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education had requested. It sought a 6.2 percent increase in the first year of the new budget and an 8.8 percent in the second year. Current state funding for higher education is $862.9 million a year.
Beshear is hoping higher education officials will be pleased with some sweeteners he added to his budget plan.
He is recommending an unprecedented $200 million in bond funds for deferred maintenance at the state’s aging campuses, which have an estimated need of $7 billion for repairs and preservation projects.
The last infusion of state money for such projects was $13.9 million in the 2008-2010 budget. Institutions would have to match the funding dollar for dollar.
Other proposed funding for higher education includes:
▪ More student financial aid.
Due to higher-than-expected revenue from the lottery, the state’s need-based aid programs will support about 7,300 additional recipients, Beshear said.
▪ More dollars for specific university programs.
An additional $497,400 would be provided this year and in the next two fiscal years so that Kentucky State University in Frankfort can provide the required match to receive its full federal land grant award.
Morehead State University’s budget would get an additional $329,000 in the first year of the new budget and $658,600 in the second year that would allow the Craft Academy, a program for gifted high school students, to add more students.
Funding for the University of Kentucky Press, which publishes academic books and books about Kentucky’s history and culture, was eliminated in the last budget. Beshear’s budget includes $336,000 a year for the next two years.
▪ Money for building projects.
Beshear’s budget would give universities permission to borrow $430 million for 23 building projects requested by seven schools. The debt service to pay for the project would come from each institution’s tuition and fee revenue. The projects range from a new college of business building at the University of Louisville to replacing outside panels on a dormitory at Morehead State University.
▪ Pension funding relief for regional universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
Beshear added $18.7 million a year in his budget to help offset the schools’ ballooning pension payments. All of the six regional universities and the KCTCS system have employees that participate in the Kentucky Retirement Systems’ pension plans. The University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville have their own pension plans.
The regionals and KCTCS are facing an increase of more than $45 million to meet their employer contribution rate of 93.01 percent of an employee’s salary. Under Beshear’s plan, contribution rates would be capped at 67.41 percent. It was 49.47 percent.
In addition to higher education, Beshear’s spending plan proposes funding several infrastructure and building projects in the state, including:
▪ $16.4 million in state bond funds to match $93.9 million in federal dollars to repair water and wastewater infrastructure across the state;
▪ $400,000 a year for the Louisville Waterfront Development Corp.;
▪ $2.5 million for the design of a new veterans nursing center in Bowling Green;
▪ $22 million in bond funds for the first phase of upgrades to mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems for the Capitol campus, which includes the state Capitol, the Capitol Annex and the Capitol parking garage;
▪ $4 million to improve 10 acres at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville for outdoor music festivals, including the Trifesta;
▪ $2.7 million in the current fiscal year cover a budget shortfall in the Kentucky Department of Parks, $10 million in bond funds to improve wastewater treatment plants at state parks and another $10 million for major maintenance projects at the parks.
▪ $357,500 each year to reinstate funding for the Commission on Women and $200,000 each year to reverse past cuts to the Commission on Human Rights.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 7:22 PM.
