Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 114, No. ??	Month DAY, 2007

Budget cuts expected to spare education, state officials promise during forum

By LARRY SEE JR.
Messenger Staff

Despite dwindling receipts, cuts won’t be made in the educational area, state legislative leaders promised.

The comments came during a legislative forum, coordinated by the Kentucky Press Association and other organizations in Frankfort.

“The more kids we can get educated, the better,” Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said. “We need more kids going after college degrees.”

Later in the briefing, Beshear said all items were on the table, but stopped short of saying where specific cuts could be coming from.

“I knew the cupboard would be bare when I took office,” Beshear said. “But I didn’t think the cupboard would be gone as well.”

His comments were echoed by House Speaker Jody Richards.

“This is the eighth governor I have served with and they all have something in common.” he said. “They have all entered broke, but this one has been more broke than usual.”

Disagreeing with the doom and gloom forecast in the state Capitol, Senate President David Williams, who sported a black tie.

“We also don’t know what our total funding is going to be until we do a sweep of the various agencies,” Williams said, adding he was interested in education.

During his remarks, Richards said education costs are responsible for 60 percent of the state budget.

Senate Budget Committee chairman Charlie Borders agreed the last place to cut funding was in education.

“That is a big ticket item and the more degrees we achieve the better the state does economically,” he said. “We can’t back off from Gov. Patton’s initiative.”

Borders expressed confidence the state could make it through the rest of this fiscal year without having to go into a deficit situation.

Border’s counterpart, Rep. Harry Moberly, acknowledged the state was in a serious budget situation, but laid the matter at the doorstep of federal officials.

“There is also going to be a lot of debate on the part of House and Senate leaders,” Moberly said.

According to Moberly, both chambers acknowledge they need to continue moving forward and not backward.

“There is going to be big damage to Kentucky if we cut the SEEK funds,” Moberly said. “And I am going to try to prevent that from happening. That is going to be my top priority to exempt for budget cuts.”

“We are always going to be open-minded,” Borders concluded.

Click Here to Go Back