Kentucky’s school funding woes escalate with estimated $40M ‘shortfall’ for 2024-25

Kentucky has projected a $40 million “funding shortfall” for its public schools in the 2024-25 academic year, according to its Department of Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher.

“KDE is…

Kentucky has projected a $40 million “funding shortfall” for its public schools in the 2024-25 academic year, according to its Department of Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher.

“KDE is currently tracking an estimated SEEK shortfall of $12 million for funding to public school districts provided in Kentucky statutes,” Fletcher wrote in a Jan. 21 letter to colleagues. “KDE estimates an additional shortfall of $28 million for funding to public school districts that is specifically conditioned on the availability of funds.”

The news comes as a student group has sued the state’s public system, charging it with failure to provide an “adequate” education and seeking increased financial support.

However, House Speaker David Osborne has described current spending at “record levels.”

“Even when presented with the opportunity to say that we needed to double down on education, the only intentional proposal that we ever get is more money,” he said. “And I will tell you that we will not continue to shower more money on failing systems.”

Dismal academic outcomes alongside ever-higher spending 

The Bluegrass State uses a school-funding formula called Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, or SEEK. It uses a base per-pupil funding distribution to decide how much funding each district receives. 

Other funding considerations include special education needs, English language assistance, transportation, and free or reduced-price lunches. 

Previous shortfalls have occurred four times between the 2010 and 2024 fiscal years, according to Fletcher. 

“These shortfall numbers are only estimates now and are subject to change in the upcoming weeks as the department completes final SEEK calculations. … 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.” 

Since the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act established the SEEK formula, analysts have criticized the lack of corresponding academic progress over the past three decades. 

As previously reported by The Lion, fewer than half of the state’s elementary students are testing at grade-level proficiency in reading, math, science and social studies. 

High school students ranked even lower in the 2024 study, with 45% proficiency in reading and 37% in social studies. Math proficiency fell to 35%, while science dropped to 6%. 

“While Kentucky is spending more than ever of its budget pie on public education, it’s drifting farther than ever from its constitutional mandate of providing an efficiently effective system that serves students and taxpayers well,” said Jim Waters, president of Bluegrass Institute.

“It also confirms what reformers have said for decades: more money does not automatically result in a better education.”