Education in Kentucky needs help from legislators

On Jan. 2, 2013, the Taylor County school district will experience federal budget cuts of 8 percent or more unless Congress intervenes.

These budget cuts will be the result of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which mandates reductions in education funding, as well as funding for almost every federal program. The overall impact will be $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. For school districts across the nation it will mean more than a $4 billion cut in Fiscal Year 2013.

When we estimate the cuts in federal funding for our own school district, we know that the impact will be devastating. And these federal cuts will come at a time when our own state and local budgets are unable to adequately fund our education programs here in Taylor County. For example, the Taylor County school district has made great progress in raising graduation rates, increasing proficiency in math and reading, closing achievement gaps through tutoring and other intervention, and increasing course offerings in science, technology, engineering and math. This success in our own community should not be jeopardized because our members in Congress could not or would not agree on a funding reduction plan that would preserve investments in education, knowing its importance to our economic recovery.

For the Taylor County School District, a budget cut in federal funding would mean larger class sizes, fewer course offerings, less access to intervention programs, summer school and after-school programs, less extracurricular activities, and teacher staff layoffs. Given the budget cuts and adjustments our local community has made in recent years, there is simply very little, if anything else, left to cut. Any further cuts in education funding will adversely affect the quality of our education programs and could leave many students unable to successfully compete for college or careers that would provide a standard of living that our children so richly deserve.

For example, some of the courses that could be eliminated would include the 21st century program and our family and youth service center program. It would cause us to have to cut programs that build character education, drug and alcohol programs and programs that keep students from dropping out of school.

Now is not the time for these harsh cuts. Education must be protected for our children and to improve our economy. If these across-the-board budget cuts to education occur, then Congress will have failed! That is why we are urging our own members of Congress, Representative John “Bam” Carney and senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul to stop the Budget Control Act’s drastic cuts to education that would affect our students and communities, and to protect education as an investment critical to economic stability and American competitiveness. The clock is ticking, and Jan. 2, 2013, will be here soon.
Taylor County School Board Members
Tony Davis
Lillian Clark
David Hall
Jim Cheatham
Deanna Hunt