Sudden education funding withdrawals affect Carter County Central plans and other large projects
Education leaders across Kentucky are reacting to the federal government’s recission of millions of dollars in COVID-era relief funding.
Several school districts statewide received liquidation extensions so they could utilize these funds by 2026. The US Department of Education withdrew that approval in March, meaning any money that hadn’t been spent disappeared.
Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) officials said many districts are now in a tight spot. Most of the projects that lost funding cannot be reversed because of their construction or purchasing contracts.
The Carter County School District allocated about $13 million in COVID relief funds for use constructing a new centralized high school and career center. Now, they can no longer access the $4.16 million not yet spent. Paul Green, Carter County Schools Superintendent, said district officials have been slow and methodical in their spending for the school, and this approval withdrawal feels like a punishment.
“If you had a smaller project and you’d already expended your funds, you got all your funds. But because of our project, because of the scope of our project,” said Green. “And then, you know, the delays we had were a lot were because of federal regulations and law.”
The high school’s planning and construction, currently in its first phase, will continue to move forward. However, the $100 million budget was already tight. Green said the district will have to adjust to these cuts.
“Four million dollars is basically all your athletic fields. Four million dollars is an auditorium and an auxiliary gym. You know, these are the things with that price tag,” said Green. “So, it’s like, what do we take out, what do we not build? What do we, what do we lose because we lost this money?”
Other schools throughout eastern Kentucky, like Letcher and Perry counties, lost millions of dollars allocated to repair and renovate equipment destroyed in the July 2022 floods.
In a recent release by the KDE, Commissioner Robbie Fletcher said the department has submitted new requests for extensions to help these schools regain the promised funding.
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Here is the original explanation for the budget cuts in March:
