Kentucky Can Do Better!
Real Cuts, Real Pain, Real People
The final budget passed by the 2005 General Assembly and signed by Governor Fletcher increases Kentucky's debt and falls short of generating sufficient revenue to meet the needs of education and vital public services within the Commonwealth.
During the past two years, evidence of the inadequacies of Kentucky's budget have grown daily. In late December 2007, newly-elected Gov. Beshear announced a $434 million shortfall in the current budget year. He plans to cut programs that have been cut and cut again.
Lack of adequate revenue brings real pain to real people. Kentucky's Medicaid program faces a deficit that could affect 700,000 poor and disabled Kentuckians. And Kentucky college students and their families are increasingly paying the costs of the failure of the Governor and the Legislature to raise enough revenue.
Visit the KEJA Blog for reports on recent budget problems.
See KEJA's Raising The Bar: Kentucky's Real Budget Report for an analysis of the chronic underfunding of many public services in Kentucky.
Other evidence --
The Economy:
Wanted: New Strategies: Improving Kentucky's economy will require some fresh thinking. The commonwealth remains near the bottom of nearly every national economic measure. Per capita income: 44th. Poverty: 45th. Average wage per job: 39th. University research and development: 41st. There is little to suggest that things are improving. The average weekly wage in Kentucky was the slowest growing in the nation, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. (12/8/05)
This article is part of Win, Lose or Draw: Gambling on Jobs, an investigative series on economic development practices that began 11/06/05 in the Lexington Herald-Leader. Information in the series is based on a MACED study of Kentucky's economic development policies and practices.
Economic Key: Improve education to attract better jobs. Kentucky has been badly served by elected and appointed officials who have not championed education as they have bid away tax dollars to get cheap -- and often fleeting -- jobs, only to tell us over and over that we can't attract better employers because our work force isn't educated. Lexington Herald-Leader Editorial (11/30/05)
KY Counties Among Poorest: Owsley and Clay counties are the second- and sixth-poorest counties in the nation by median household income, according to 2003 Census data. Lexington Herald-Leader (11/30/05)
An Unsatisfied Commonwealth: A growing number of Kentuckians don't believe their state is on a path toward prosperity, according to surveys taken by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center. Lexington Herald-Leader (11/6/05)
One-third in Kentucky say they're worse off than a year ago. Louisville Courier-Journal (9/18/05)
Education in Kentucky:
2006-07 Tuition for KCTCS Rises 11%: Board member calls on Legislators to appropriate more funds; student leader says "Somewhere, it has got to stop." Lexington Herald-Leader (3/11/06)
National School-Reform Organization Gives Kentucky a 'D' in Science: Louisville Courier-Journal (12/8/05)
Education Panel Proposes Budget: Without more money, Council fears it might not meet reform goals. Lexington Herald-Leader (11/8/05)
$250 Million Needed to Catch Up: That's how much Kentucky's postsecondary education system needs to catch up with comparable institutions in other states. Lexington Herald-Leader (11/3/05)
Business Leaders' Plan for Education Gets an A: Business leaders have credibility because of their vital need for a well-educated work force. They know from experience that any state that isn't moving forward in education is moving backward. And forward motion will not happen without adequate revenue to fuel improvement. Opinion by Robert Sexton, Pritchard Committee for Academic Excellence. Lexington Herald-Leader (10/31/05)
Business Forum on Kentucky Education reports that initiatives in elementary and secondary education in 1990, higher education in 1997 and early childhood education later in the decade made progress in turning around generations of neglect. "But the improvement isn't happening quickly enough and the state is once again at a critical crossroads. Either we mount an aggressive effort to build on our accomplishments or we relegate our state to continued mediocrity." Associated Press (9/12/05)
Gains
squandered, Kentucky again is dead last in education support. Columnist
David Hawpe, Louisville Courier-Journal (8/14/05)
State is Only One Below $1,000 Per Capita: School spending
last in 2 categories. Associated Press (8/15/05)
The Well-Being of Our Familes & Children:
Education Week released an analysis that finds a child born in Kentucky is significantly less likely to succeed in life than children in most other states due to high poverty rates and low parental education and employment. (1/3/07)
Drained Pensions: Legislature must replenish state workers' fund. In a few years when thousands of state workers retire, the system's assets won't cover the monthly checks and health insurance they have earned. Lexington Herald-Leader (12/6/05)
109,000 Kentucky Children Uninsured. Kentucky Youth Advocates (9/19/05)
State's health ills eclipse any Frankfort woes. Kentucky has dropped to its lowest ratings in 16 years in the health and welfare of its children and more parents are living in poverty. Columnist Bob Hill, Louisville Courier-Journal (7/28/05)
A poor state's children: Louisville Courier-Journal editorial (7/28/05)
Children faring worse in Kentucky: State ranks 42nd in kid's well-being. Louisville Courier-Journal (7/27/05)
Health Care:
Kentucky Receives an F in the National Alliance on Mental Illness's state-by-state analysis of mental health care systems. The primary concern: lack of funding. NAMI Grading the States ( March 2006)
More than 75,000 Jefferson County residents -- and more than 530,000 Kentuckians -- have no health insurance, according to new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Louisville Courier-Journal (8/15/05)
Poor will pay millions more for Medicaid: New Fees, Prescription Co-Pays in 2006. Lexington Herald-Leader, (7/1/05)
New Medicaid co-pays make recipients uneasy: Kentucky enacts charges to trim $675 million shortfall. Louisville Courier-Journal (7/1/05)
Poor, Disabled Need Access to Health Care: Access to basic medical and health-related services for more than 700,000 low-income, elderly and disabled Kentuckians -- about half of them children -- is in jeopardy. By B. Russell Harper, director of governmental relations for Christian Care Communities, based in Louisville. Lexington Herald-Leader (6/20/05)
Some Truths About Taxes & Economic Growth
Evidence grows that tax cuts cost jobs and harm the economy.