Kentucky lawmakers will be asked to restore cuts to higher education when they write a new, two-year state budget next legislative session.
The state has cut campus budgets seven times in the last eight years. In a budget recommendation approved Friday, the Council on Postsecondary Education is seeking more than $86 million for the state’s eight public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
CPE President Bob Kings says education leaders realize only partial restoration of the cuts is realistic.
"We understand the state is facing some other extraordinary challenges in the pension systems and the growth of the Medicaid budget, but we also know that Kentucky is one of a handful of states that has not re-invested in higher education," King told WKU Public Radio.
Lawmakers will also be asked to tie higher education funding to certain performance standards at each school. State money would be awarded to campuses based on metrics like closing achievement gaps and increasing retention and graduation rates.
