Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday is calling the next legislative session a “make or break year” for the state’s public school system.
“I think we’ve hit the wall for increasing student performance and without some reinvestment in public education I think kids are going to lose out.”
Holliday is asking state lawmakers to restore per student funding to their 2009 levels during biennium budget discussions next year. He also says state grant funding needs to be restored. That will mean committing nearly $270 million dollars more to education for the next two years.
Holliday says the General Assembly can accomplish this through tax reforms and approving expanded gaming, two issues that have not made headway in the recent past.
Education will be competing with state pension and healthcare issues among the other state agencies that have seen cuts to their budgets.
Holliday says local districts should not have to raise taxes to fill shortfalls.
