Spending reductions caused by the fiscal cliff would be devastating for Kentucky’s public schools, officials say.
According to the Kentucky Department of Education, federal funding for public schools would be reduced up to $61 million per year for the next 10 years, affecting more than 1,350 jobs and nearly 130,000 students. Higher education officials in Kentucky and Indiana also are warily eying the fiscal cliff talks.
— Antoinette Konz and Chris Kenning
What's at stake
Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday has said failure to resolve the issue would force school districts to look at significant staff reductions in all federal programs when making employment decisions in the early spring.
Officials with the Indiana Department of Education say they are in the “early stages of trying to assess the impact.”
“At this point, we don’t have specifics to share,” said department spokesman Alex Damron. “It’s safe to say there would be potential implications for some of the programs we administer with federal funds.”
In Jefferson County Public Schools, the district would lose approximately $7.1 million annually if the cuts take effect. The cuts could result in larger class sizes, fewer course offerings, four-day school weeks, loss of extracurricular activities, teacher and staff layoffs, and reductions of extended learning opportunities and teacher professional development, said Cordelia Hardin, chief financial officer.
Mike Curtin, the University of Louisville’s chief financial officer, said the automatic cuts would lead to reductions in the amount of research funding from agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
He said financial aid would also be hit. There would be cuts to college-access programs such as Gear Up, he said, and while Pell Grants are exempt from cuts in 2013, that could change in future years. Origination fees on federally guaranteed Stafford Loans would also rise from one to 7.6 percent, Curtin said.
What they're saying
Holliday said the cuts caused by the fiscal cliff will have a “significant impact on education reform efforts across Kentucky and the nation.”
“Our children deserve better than what Washington is currently offering,” he wrote in a recent blog.
Curtin said, “We’re hoping it doesn’t come to pass, because it would have some significant reductions.”
While the Indiana Commission for Higher Education couldn’t quantify the potential impact, associate commissioner Jason Bearce said the agency was closely monitoring negotiations and was “cautiously optimistic” that a solution would be found.
