For years, inadequate state funding for public education has forced Kentucky’s kids to make do with outdated textbooks and technology, deprived them of vital supports and left them without the attention and enrichment all students deserve.
But in the past several years, the federal government stepped up. Thanks to more than $3 billion in federal funding designed to accelerate academic recovery and meet other student needs in the post-pandemic period, school leaders were able to hire necessary staff and better meet student needs. It filled a gap left when the legislature mostly prioritized large budget surpluses and income tax cuts over restoring funding to public schools.
That federal funding, known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, expires this fall, and superintendents across the commonwealth say students will be much worse off for it. In fact, national research shows Kentucky’s kids will be among the hardest hit in the nation because ESSER funds provided more support to schools with the greatest needs and Kentucky has one of the nation’s highest rates of high-poverty school districts.